


Virgil the Wee Vampire

by PaigePenn



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), gt - Fandom
Genre: (This isn't a Thomas-centric fic; he doesn't show up till the end of chapter 11), (minor character death occurs in the background during a memory but it IS mentioned a few times), Blood, Found Family, Gen, Human AU, Human Logan, Human Patton, Human Roman, Minor Character Death, Tiny Thomas, Tiny Vampire, Tiny Vampire Thomas, Tiny Vampire Virgil, Tiny Virgil, Vampire AU, Vampire Vigil, vampire thomas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2020-04-24 04:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19165957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaigePenn/pseuds/PaigePenn
Summary: Virgil is a six-inch tall vampire. Shenanigans ensue.This story can also be read onDeviantArtandtumblr.Also, please check out theVtWV arttag on my tumblr! I've been blessed with some amazing fanart for this story!





	1. The Hungry Little Vampire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is a vampire, only six inches tall. The world is big and scary, and he has to find a meal. Things do not go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: minor character death offscreen in backstory, blood, fear.

Virgil was hungry. So very, very hungry. He thought he was going to starve to death. Normally, on a night when he found nothing to eat, he could go back to the cave, and someone who'd had better luck would share with him. They all looked out for each other like that, and Virgil had done the same for his colony-mates on several occasions. But tonight was not like other nights. Nor would any other night ever be again.

There had been a human. A big, terrifying human, bearing rowan branches, silver, and garlic. He'd attacked at noon. The colony never even stood a chance. As far as he knew, Virgil was the only one who escaped.

If he currently had eyes capable of it, Virgil would be brought to tears by the thought of his family, gone. Wiped out. All because of one hateful human.

As it was, Virgil's echolocation stuttered, and he nearly flew into a tree. He managed to swerve around it at the last minute. It was then that he heard voices. _Human_ voices. Virgil's first instinct was to fly in the opposite direction, away from the huge, terrifying creatures. But he made himself go toward the voices instead. He was, after all, starving. If he flew away from the humans for fear of them killing him, it wouldn't be long before the hunger gnawing away at his stomach did the job anyway.

That didn't mean he had to be stupid about it, though. When Virgil found the humans, he stopped some ways off to get a good grasp on the situation. They were out in the middle of an open, grassy space, lying on a blanket. And there were three of them. Two were chatting in soft voices, and the third was tucked up close beside them. If he wasn't so exhausted with hunger, Virgil could have pinpointed whether his eyes were open or closed, but he couldn't focus enough now.

The third one _looked_ asleep, at least. He wasn't moving, like the others were, and he hadn't said a word since Virgil had first heard them. That one would be his target. Sleeping creatures were less likely to notice him, less likely to kill him in anger for doing what he had to to survive.

Virgil flew low around the group to the side where the maybe-sleeping one was. He landed on the grass at the edge of their blanket, awkwardly transforming. Some of his colony-mates had been very good at graceful transformations, but Virgil had never managed it. The hunger made it even harder, and he stumbled. He had about the same body mass as before, of course, and the same basic structure, but the proportions were different. His legs were longer, and his arms were shorter, _especially_ his fingers, which had lost the flight-giving membrane between them. His ears were ridiculously tiny, and even if he hadn't been on the brink of starvation, his echolocation would have been very fuzzy at best. Right now, it was nearly nonexistent. His eyesight, at least, was better than before, not that that meant much in the darkness of night.

Virgil stumbled toward the humans. At least the blackness should help prevent them from seeing him, either. _Ankles_ , he thought to himself. _Always go for the ankles_. Creatures paid more attention to parts of their bodies that were higher up. The ankles would be his safest bet.

Reaching the probably-asleep human, Virgil walked up to his ankles. They weren't bare. A thick sock covered them, too thick to bite through, and Virgil didn't dare move it. Despairing, he let his gaze trail up the human's leg. There! He saw a bit of exposed flesh. But it was several inches away, and under the arch of the human's pant cuff.

If Virgil wasn't so desperate, he never would have risked it. But he'd had nothing to eat this night or the night before, and he knew that if he didn't get something in his stomach, he would be dead before the sun rose. He'd have to risk it.

Slowly, cautiously, Virgil climbed up onto the human's leg, hoping that the thick material of the sock would keep him from being noticed. Even more slowly, he inched up the leg, going under the cloth of the human's pants. It was darker in here, and he wished for his echolocation. But between his hunger and his tiny ears, he could 'see' nothing. Virgil used his fingers to feel ahead as he crawled along the human's sock. Finally, he touched air instead of cloth. There was the edge. Virgil pulled himself forward so that his face was over the edge of the sock, right next to the human's exposed skin.

He licked it. Like all of his kind, Virgil had a numbing agent in his saliva. It was important that the human not feel the bite. To be safe, Virgil licked the spot again. Then he bit.

This part of the leg didn't bleed as easily as an ankle. Virgil supposed the veins must be further in, under a layer of fat or muscle. But it did bleed. Virgil eagerly slurped up the blood.

Before he'd had anything close to enough, the leg under him shifted. Virgil froze in terror. Then, to his horror, he heard a new voice. It was sleepy and disoriented, and no doubt belonged to the human he was drinking from.

"M' leg's asleep," the human mumbled. The leg was shifting again, and Virgil quailed. Panic filled him, but he found himself frozen, unable to move. He clung, foolishly, to the cloth of the sock as the human pulled back the cloth above him. Then there was a yell, not Virgil's, and he was airborne without wings.

He landed on the grass. Hard. Virgil's head was swimming, and he could hardly tell which way was up, let alone get away. Bright light swept over him, and he flinched. It was not the sun, nor even close to its intensity, but in this instant, this false sun felt like it could burn him as badly as the real one.

There were voices, saying things he couldn't quite make out, but as Virgil slipped into unconsciousness from which he didn't expect to wake, he vaguely heard one voice say, "Pass me the firefly jar."


	2. Stargazing and What Came of it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While out stargazing, Roman, Patton, and Logan discover a tiny vampire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: Blood, (mild) injury, biting, fear, kidnapping

It was a perfect night for stargazing. The air was warm but not muggy, and the skies were clear. Logan carried a large blanket for them to lie on, as well as a book of constellations that they might or might not open. Patton carried the big, comfortably heavy flashlight that they technically didn't need since all their phones had flashlight widgets, but which was a comfort to have anyway. Roman had a large jar in which he planned to catch fireflies. (Logan had told him that it was the wrong season for fireflies, and too late in the evening besides. Roman said he didn't care and was going to try anyway.)

They spread the blanket out in their favorite stargazing place, an open grassy space far enough from any buildings that light pollution was at a minimum, and near some trees that, during the day, Patton would gladly climb.

The three of them sprawled out on the blanket together, with Logan in the middle and Roman and Patton on either side. Roman hadn't seen any fireflies, and he set the jar aside. The flashlight lay next to it.

"Look, there's the big dipper," Patton said, pointing.

"And there's Andromeda," Logan replied.

Roman gazed up at the night sky. "Orion," he said after a bit.

For several minutes, the three of them pointed out constellations. After some time, Patton nuzzled up against Logan, requesting to be told the stories behind some of the constellations. His two housemates told story after story, Logan pulling from myth, and Roman making them up on the spot. Roman made up several new constellations, too.

Soon Patton was half asleep, letting their words flow over him without fully paying attention. It was warm, and he felt quite safe with his two best friends beside him. But his leg felt a little weird, and the strangeness woke him back up. He shifted.

Logan broke off in the middle of a sentence. "You okay, Pat?" he asked.

"M' leg's asleep," Patton answered, moving to scratch the spot. It was on his calf, just above the top of his sock, and Patton, sleepy as he was, wondered why only one spot felt numb, rather than the whole leg. He pulled up his pants leg to scratch it, but froze. In the low light, he could see a dark shape clinging to his leg. Patton screamed, shaking his leg with fright. The thing flew off, landing a few feet away.

Instantly, the other two were sitting up. Roman had the flashlight in his hand like a club. "What ails you?" he exclaimed, while at the same time Logan asked,

"What happened?"

"Something was _on_ me," Patton whimpered. He clutched the place where it had been, only to pull his hand away, wet, and cried, "It bit me!"

"Roman, turn that on," Logan said in his no-nonsense voice. "Patton, let me see."

They both obeyed immediately. Roman shone the flashlight on Patton's exposed leg, and Logan bent over it. He frowned.

"We should go back," he said.

"Is it bad?" Patton asked, his voice quivering.

"It's a small wound, but it's bleeding freely," Logan answered calmly. "I think you'll be fine, but we ought to clean and bandage it. Do you know what bit you?"

Patton shook his head, pointing in the direction it had gone.

Roman swept the flashlight beam in that direction. There, lying crumpled against the green grass, was something dark. Roman approached it, squinting curiously. The tiny creature was cowering under the flashlight beam, curled up tightly, but Roman could have sworn he saw a tiny face peeking up at him for a second. He brought the light closer, peering at it. "It's… it's a little man," he said in wonder.

"A what?" Logan sounded surprised, as well he ought.

"A tiny man," Roman repeated. "He looks stunned."

"Well, he injured Patton," Logan said, mind made up. "Capture him, we need to know what he is."

"Right," Roman said. But he hesitated. He didn't want to touch the little thing. What if it bit him too? "Lo, pass me the firefly jar," he said.

Logan rolled it to him, and Roman put it over the top of the little man. Breathing a bit more easily now, he added, "Can I borrow your star book?" Wordlessly, Logan gave it to him. Setting the flashlight aside on the grass, Roman slid the hard cover under the jar and the little man, same as he'd slide a paper under a cup and a bug, and carefully tipped the jar sideways. The tiny man, limp now, slid to the glass side. Roman took away the book and quickly screwed the lid on.

"Got him."

"Good," Logan said. Roman carried the captive, the flashlight, and the constellation book back to the other two. Logan had gotten out the basic first aid supplies he kept in his wallet, and now Patton's leg had a bandaid on it. Logan put the bandaid wrapper, the used alcohol wipe, and its wrapper all in his pocket.

"Can you carry our damoiseau in distress back to the house?" he asked Roman. "I don't want him to move much, in case it was venomous."

"Of course," Roman said. He unloaded his arms onto the grass and knelt beside Patton. "I've got you, Patton," he said tenderly. "Ready?"

Patton nodded, and Roman scooped him up bridal style, blanket and all. Logan gathered up everything else, and they headed back to the house together, Logan lighting the way with the flashlight. Patton rested his head against Roman's chest, feeling safe even though he was scared about the bite on his leg.

As they walked, Logan examined the tiny man in the jar as well as he could in the low light and while moving. He _looked_ human, aside from his size. His clothes were either black or a very dark purple.

He was also completely unconscious. It wasn't from a lack of oxygen, of that Logan could be certain; Roman had punched several holes in the lid of the jar before they had set out. Logan didn't see any injuries, either, nor was the man lying as though he was in pain.

At the house, Roman sat Patton on the kitchen counter, and Logan set the jar on the couch so that it wouldn't roll away. "How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

"'M okay," Patton said softly, holding the blanket close. Roman kept one hand comfortingly on Patton's back. "Doesn't hurt."

Logan nodded, getting the first aid kit out from under the sink. He crouched in front of Patton to get a better look at his wound. "I'm going to take the bandaid off," he warned, and did it. Patton winced a little, but made no noise of protest. Now that they had proper lighting, Logan could see the injury much better, though it started bleeding again at once. Tearing open an alcohol wipe, Logan cleaned it off. "Two punctures," he murmured to himself, "very neat. No swelling, no color change." Speaking aloud again, he asked Patton, "And you said you feel well?"

"Mm-hm."

"No pain? Nausea? Blurriness of vision? Breathing okay?" To each question, Patton answered agreeably, and Logan relaxed. "I don't think it was venomous," he said. "It does bother me somewhat how easily it is bleeding, but I suspect that the creature had some sort of anticoagulant in its saliva, and it will wear off soon." Logan cleaned the wound again and rebandaged it. "Let me know if anything feels odd, Patton," he said, standing. "Even if you think it's unrelated, and even if you have to wake me up."

"Okay," Patton said.

Roman rubbed Patton's back. "Bedtime, Specs?" he asked. Patton nodded with a yawn, and Roman smiled. "Want me to give you a lift?"

"No…" Patton said softly. The other two helped him down from the counter. "But," Patton said, shyly, then stopped. Roman gave him an encouraging smile. "Will you tuck me in?"

"Of course, Pat," Roman said, taking Patton's hand and leading him off to bed.

Logan put the first aid kit back away and went back to the living room. He picked up the jar, sinking into the couch where it had sat, and peered thoughtfully at the small figure inside. His clothes were in fact a dark purple. They fit him well and looked very dapper, if at least a couple decades out of style. He was breathing, Logan noted with relief, tiny chest rising and falling. It seemed shallow, but he wasn't sure how much of that was due to the creature's small size.

Roman came back while Logan was still gazing into the jar, and he sat next to him. "Patton's asleep," he reported.

"Good."

"So, you figure out what that is yet?"

"No." Logan looked up, linking eyes with Roman. "Other than its size, it appears to be human. Based on Patton's bite, I would guess that it is hematophagous — It drinks blood," he added, as Roman gave him a blank look for the long word.

Roman gasped. "He's a vampire!" he exclaimed.

"A vampire," Logan repeated flatly.

Roman spread his hands and raised his eyebrows. "What other human-shaped thing drinks blood?" he asked.

Logan made a face. "As much as I hate to admit it, 'vampire' is no more implausible than a human this small existing in the first place," he conceded.

Suddenly, Roman rocketed out of his seat. Before Logan could say anything, the other man was already halfway down the hallway. Logan sighed, looking into the jar again contemplatively.

Roman was back a few moments later, holding a hand mirror. Logan gave him a quizzical look.

"Vampires don't have reflections," Roman explained, holding the mirror up beside the jar. They both looked.

The jar in the reflection was empty. Roman gasped, and Logan said "Gadzooks," under his breath.

"Vampire," Roman declared. "Definitely a vampire." He frowned. "This doesn't mean Patton is going to turn into a vampire, does it?"

"I don't know," Logan admitted. "There are many conflicting lores." He paused. "Perhaps you should draw the blinds in his room just in case."

Roman rushed off to do just that, taking his mirror with him to put away.

Logan eyed the tiny vampire. He wanted to talk to it once it woke, but he didn't know how long that would be. Perhaps it would wake sometime in the night, in which case he didn't particularly want to leave it by itself. Logan frowned at himself. He didn't want to leave _him_ by _himself_ , he corrected sternly. This creature certainly wasn't human, but that didn't make him less of a person.

Roman came back, sitting down next to Logan again. "They're closed, and I hung a blanket across the bar as well," he reported. "I didn't want to wake Patton up, so he doesn't know yet." There was a worried edge in his tone, and though he didn't say it, Logan knew his roommate to be worrying, _what if Patton actually is a vampire but he doesn't realize and opens the blinds and turns to dust?_

"I'm always up earlier than either of you," Logan said. "I'll check to make sure he still has a reflection when I get up."

Roman breathed a sigh of relief. "He still has one now," he said. Leaning over to look into the jar in Logan's hands, he asked, "What should we do about this little guy?"

Logan pursed his lips. "I want to question him," he answered. "But I don't know when he will wake up. Perhaps later tonight. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps not even until tomorrow night." He paused, thinking. "It would be best to secure the jar so that he cannot roll it away if he wakes while we are asleep. But we must put it somewhere dark, where the sunlight cannot reach."

"Bathroom hasn't got any windows," Roman suggested. Logan nodded. They had two bathrooms, and one was in the middle of the house, where it was unlikely that any sunlight could get in. "And," Roman continued, "we can put a salt line around the jar to make him stay put even if he does get out."

Logan wasn't sure that was right, but he didn't know enough about vampires to dispute it. "I'll have to do a lot of research," he realized aloud.

Roman was looking at the vampire again, and Logan followed his gaze. "Do you think he's hungry?" Roman asked. He was still annoyed at the vamp for biting Patton, _especially_ if he'd turned him, but all the same, he didn't want him to starve. "How much blood do you think a vampire that small would need, anyway?"

"I would expect he'd need much less than one our size," Logan answered. "I don't know how much he drank from Patton, but most likely he will not starve before we can talk to him." Thoughtfully, he added, "The bags of blood they draw during blood drives are larger than he himself is. I doubt it would be harmful to us to supply him with enough sustenance for long enough to get our questions answered." He frowned. "Given that we draw it ourselves, rather than allow him to bite us, of course."

They found a small cardboard box, and Logan lay the jar lengthwise in it, placing it in the bathroom. Roman took a canister of salt and poured it in a rectangle all around the edges of the box, completely surrounding the jar and the tiny vampire.

Then, finally, they went to bed.


	3. Trapped in the Home of Humans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil's been captured by humans. What could happen next? Surely nothing good!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: blood, fear/mortal terror, near starvation, minor self-injury, near-death scenario, being trapped

Virgil woke. That surprised him. He felt as though his torso was one big hollow, his belly button touching his spine. That did not surprise him. He was lying on something hard, but not quite flat, and it was dark. Virgil moved, pushing himself up. The surface beneath him was very smooth, and cold to the touch. It curved upwards to each side, and was flat lengthwise. Virgil was sore from sleeping on it, but relieved to be alive. For now, anyway.

In order for him to see, there had to be at least some light. There was none. And in this form, especially this hungry, Virgil could echolocate nothing. He transformed back into his bat form. Virgil squeaked at his surroundings, turning his ears to catch the echoes. What he discovered frightened him. The strange smooth substance surrounded him in all directions, except directly in front, where instead there was a sheet of metal. It had holes punched through it, but they were barely large enough for his fingers to fit through. Perhaps if he had been at his full strength, Virgil could have used those holes to tear a larger opening, but not while he was this hungry. He was completely trapped.

Virgil sat, wondering if he would starve to death before the humans came back and killed him. He had no idea how long he sat there before the space grew suddenly lighter. It was not, he was relieved to note, sunlight, but the sudden brightness made him blink. With the light, he discovered that the curved surface surrounding him was clear, and he could see right through it. On all sides, however, there were brown walls around him, blocking off any possible escape.

There was a squeal, and Virgil jolted. It had come from above him, and he looked up that way. His vision was blurry, and he was sure that the curved glass ceiling above him wasn't helping. All he could tell was that something _big_ was above him. A human. He cowered. Instead of grabbing his prison, however, the human rushed off. He heard a yell in the distance. It was muffled, but thanks to his superior ears, Virgil could still make out the words. "Guys! The vampire's awake! And he's a _bat_!"

Virgil uncurled slowly. Perhaps he shouldn't stay in this form. There was no room for him to fly, his echolocation was useless in such a small enclosure, and his vision was better in his other form. Virgil shifted, and then collapsed as the hunger pangs returned more sharply.

He heard gigantic footsteps returning, and realized through the fog of hunger that there were more than one set. With horror, he realized that _all three_ humans were coming. How angry were they that he had bitten one of their number? How were they going to kill him?

The humans arrived, and Virgil looked up at them, heart thudding in his throat.

"Hi," whispered one. "I'm Patton. This is Roman," Here, the human gestured to the man beside him, who was looking down at Virgil with a frown. Virgil looked away after a second. "And this is Logan!" Now Patton gestured to the other human, who was looking at Virgil with a terrifying amount of curiosity.

"Salutations," said Logan.

"What's your name?" Patton prompted.

Virgil looked up at him again, eyes wide. Patton was grinning down at him, and somehow that was even more terrifying than Roman's frown or Logan's curiosity. He had recognized the human's voice during the introductions, even though he'd only heard him speak once before. Patton was the one he had bitten. Surely he was plotting his revenge against Virgil, and was delighted by whatever plans he had dreamed up. Virgil shuddered, looking away.

"Aww," Patton said, disappointed. "Won't you tell us?"

Virgil said nothing.

After several moments more, Logan spoke. "We should get out of the bathroom, into a more open space." At this, Virgil looked up again. They were indeed inside a human building. Virgil had never actually _been_ in a human's house before, only glimpsed them through windows. Getting kidnapped in a jar counted as invitation, apparently. Before he had time to process this, however, Logan's hands came down, closing around either end of the jar, and effortlessly lifted it, and him.

Virgil curled into a terrified ball as the humans moved, carrying him out of that room and into another. Finally, his prison was set down, and he heard clinking sounds. Virgil uncurled a little, and saw that the jar had been set down on a large slab of wood, and a few rocks had been pushed up against its sides to keep it from rolling.

Hunger pangs shot through his stomach again, and Virgil whimpered, pressing his arms against it.

"He's hungry," he heard one of the humans say, too disoriented now to tell which one it was.

Another human said, "I'll give you some blood if you'll answer some questions."

"Logan!" the first snapped. Virgil wondered if he was imagining how aghast he sounded. "You can't just… use that as leverage!"

Virgil was starting to fade out of consciousness again.

"Not even just his name?" That was the third human.

There was silence. Over Virgil's head, though he couldn't see it, Patton glared at Roman, while Logan fetched a knife from its block.

"V-Virgil," he croaked out desperately, and felt their attention snap back to him.

"What?" asked one.

"My name… is Virgil."

For several seconds, nothing seemed to be happening. Then he heard one human make a faint sound of pain, and the sharp, delicious smell of fresh blood reached Virgil's nostrils. He pushed himself up again, looking eagerly around for it. But he didn't see it.

"Roman," one of the other humans said calmly. "Open the jar real quick, would you?"

"No biting," Roman warned Virgil as he approached, lifting the end of the jar blocked by metal. Virgil slid on the glass down to the other side and huddled there, staring at the hand holding the jar up. There was a scraping sound, and the metal spun around and around in circles. Finally, Roman pulled it away and lowered the jar back to the table.

Logan approached, then. He smelled of blood, and he set a short container of it just inside the mouth of the jar. Virgil hung back until the human's hand retreated, and then scrambled forward. As he did, the metal clapped over the opening again, but Virgil didn't care.

The container was made of the same material as the jar around Virgil, and was almost as wide as it was tall, with an open top. It was about half full of blood.

Virgil immediately leaned over the edge, slurping at the blood. It got on his face, but he didn't care. He just gulped it down as quickly as he could.

Even guzzling the liquid, there was enough that it took him over a minute to drink it all. In the end, Virgil had his head entirely inside of the container, and even licked the last drops of blood off the glass until it looked completely clean. Then he set to work cleaning his face by licking his hands, rubbing them on the sticky spots, and licking them again. Shortly, that too was spotless.

It wasn't enough to fill him completely, not after he'd nearly starved, but it had certainly taken the edge off, and Virgil felt stronger. Slowly, he sat back, looking up at the three humans. Logan was occupied with some sort of wrapping he was putting around his finger. A bandage, Virgil realized. Logan had cut himself open to feed him. Patton and Roman were sitting nearby, but Patton had turned his face away and covered it with his hands. Roman had his hands on Patton's shoulder and arm and was watching Patton.

"Th-thank you," Virgil stuttered. Logan glanced back at him.

"You're welcome."

Patton peeked out from between his fingers. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Yes," Virgil said, eyeing Patton warily.

Just in front of him, Logan sat down, and Virgil looked back at him. What he saw made a shiver run down his back. The human was holding a wooden stake longer than Virgil was tall. Its tip looked very sharp. Terrified once more, Virgil could do nothing but stare at it. Had Logan really brought him back from the brink of starvation just so he could kill him himself?

Logan was speaking, but Virgil couldn't hear him through the haze of terror. The fact that there was a glass barrier between them meant nothing. Logan could easily get him out of the jar, and then…

Virgil shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself.


	4. Logan and his Many Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many questions are asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: fear, intimidation, being trapped, non-graphic description of an injury, self-injury, blood, alcohol mention

Logan grabbed his notebook and a pencil. Now that the vampire was fed and in better shape, he wanted to know things. "If you don't mind, Virgil, I have some questions," he said, turning to a blank page.

Virgil was completely silent. Logan looked up.

"Virgil?"

Still, no answer. The little vampire in the jar was staring in Logan's direction, an odd expression on his face.

"Virgil?" Logan questioned again. He lifted his hand, and Virgil's eyes followed it. "What's the matter?"

Suddenly, Roman knew. "Logan, you giant nerdy fool," he said, snatching Logan's pencil away.

"Hey!" Logan protested, reaching for it. Roman held it above his head.

"Now, now, Logan," he chided. "This is a very pointy piece of wood, and that is a very little vampire. No wonder he's frightened."

Logan gave him a confused look for a few seconds before remembering a common thread in most vampire lore. The stake. He sighed and got up. "I'll get a pen."

Roman threw the pencil at him as he departed.

Now that Logan and his pencil were gone, Virgil seemed to unfreeze. He looked up at the other two, wary but not completely terrified.

"I have a question too!" Patton said. "Am I going to turn into a vampire?"

Virgil blinked at him in bewilderment, and Patton gazed back. Finally, Virgil said, "What?"

"You bit me," Patton reminded him. Virgil nodded slowly. "Is it going to turn me into a vampire too?"

Virgil looked up at him for several more moments. Realizing that Patton was serious, he shook his head. "No."

"That's a relief," Roman said, his shoulders relaxing.

"I think being a bat would be fun," Patton countered with a small pout.

"You hate the sight of blood," Roman reminded him gently.

Logan came back with a pen and sat down in his chair again. Virgil eyed him warily, but didn't look nearly as terrified as before.

"Hi, Virgil," Logan said gently.

After a pause, Virgil answered, "Hi."

"I have some questions for you," Logan said, uncapping the pen.

Virgil frowned. "What kind of questions?" he asked.

"Oh, all sorts," Logan said. "You're the first vampire I've ever met, and the lore is generally contradictory, so of course I'm curious."

Virgil didn't say go ahead, but he didn't say no, either.

"Why did you bite Patton?" Logan began.

The tiny vampire curled up tighter around himself in the jar, looking like he wanted to become even smaller. "I'm sorry!" he cried. "I was starving."

Logan realized the problem. "It’s okay," he said gently. "We're not going to punish you." Virgil looked up warily, and Logan gave him a careful smile. "Are you still starving?"

Virgil shook his head.

"That's good." Logan made a note. "When did you last eat? Before you bit Patton last night, I mean."

There was a pause as Virgil concentrated, trying to remember. Then, he finally said, "Two… two days."

Logan was taken aback. Virgil hadn't just been very hungry, he'd been literally _starving_. "Are you still hungry now?"

After a moment’s hesitation, the vampire nodded. Logan frowned thoughtfully. He’d used the smallest of Patton’s shot glasses (amusingly, they had never held alcohol while in Patton’s possession, though they had frequently been filled with jello), which held about an ounce, and filled it half full. So the vampire had gotten roughly a tablespoon of blood. Certainly, he would need more than his usual serving size while recovering from almost starving to death, but how much did he usually drink, and how much more would he need now?

"Do you know how much blood you drink on an average day?" Logan asked. Virgil stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. Oh well. It had been worth a try.

Logan moved on to his next question. "Will Patton suffer any ill effects from being bitten?"

"He already told us I'm not going to turn into a vampire," Patton chimed in.

"Good," Logan said with relief. He continued to watch Virgil, waiting for his answer. "Any other ill effects?"

"I-I don't know," the little vampire stuttered. "I don't… I don't _think_ so? He should be fine."

As he wrote that down, Logan made a mental note to keep an eye on Patton's health in the coming days anyway. "We've been making sure to keep you out of the sunlight," Logan continued. "That's why all the blinds are drawn and it's so dim in here. Can you confirm that this is necessary?"

Almost before Logan had finished the question, Virgil was nodded quickly, his eyes wide and panicked.

"Alright, no sunlight for you," Logan said, making a note.

"What… what time is it?" Virgil asked warily. And a bit wearily too, Logan noticed.

Logan looked to the clock, but Roman beat him to it. "Noonish," he said. "Sleepy?"

Virgil nodded, and Patton declared, "Lo, no more questions for a while. He needs sleep!" Turning to the jar, he asked kindly, "How do you usually sleep?"

"Hanging from my feet in a cave."

"Not in a coffin?" Roman asked, and got a confused look in return.

Logan couldn't resist one more question. "Patton mentioned that you were a bat earlier," he said. "Can you change easily back and forth? Do you prefer to sleep in bat form?"

Virgil nodded to both questions.

Logan nodded thoughtfully, eyeing the jar. "I imagine it's not very comfortable in there," he said, and saw Virgil shake his head. Logan paused, thinking about what he wanted to say next and doing his best to not be too blunt about it. "We don't know you well enough to trust you out loose yet," he said at last. "But perhaps we could make you more comfortable."

"Dragon's old terrarium is bigger than that jar," Roman offered. "It's no cave, but you can hook your toes in the mesh lid, and I can drape a blanket on top so it's dark."

"What's a… a turr-air-um?" Virgil asked cautiously.

"A glass box," Roman explained, gesturing the size with his hands. "It used to have a bunch of rocks in it for my lizard, Dragon, but I moved them all to his new terrarium and it's empty now."

Virgil looked between the three of them for several long moments. Finally, he said, "Okay."

Roman ran off to get the terrarium. While he was away, the two humans left looked in at the wee vampire, who gazed back out at them. He looked far less frightened than he had before, but still nervous. Patton gave him a comforting smile.

"Virgil," Logan said, and the vampire's gaze snapped back to him. "If you will move to the other end of the jar, I'll refill that glass for you."

It was impressive how fast Virgil could move.

Logan opened the jar, careful not to tilt it, and took the shot glass out. As he closed the jar again, he warned gently, "Patton, you're going to want to look away again."

Patton gave him a wide eyed glance, and then turned his face studiously to the wall.

Logan got the first aid kit out again before removing the bandage from his finger. The injury had sealed itself, but it only took a bit of prodding to get it to start bleeding again. Logan held his finger over the shot glass and let it drip.

"How hungry are you, Virgil?" he asked. The vampire tore his eyes away from the shot glass to fix them on Logan's face instead.

"A lot."

"If I were to fill this as full as it was before, could you drink it all?"

Virgil's nod was immediate.

"If I filled it to the brim?"

This time Virgil's nod was less immediate, but only by a fraction of a second.

Logan squeezed his finger to make it bleed faster. Before long, the shot glass was nearly full, and Logan adjusted his grip, now applying pressure to slow the bleeding instead. A few last drops fell into the glass, and Logan wrapped his finger back up. Once it was secure, he put his forearm over the top of the jar to hold it still and unscrewed the lid with his uninjured hand. Last time, Roman had opened the jar for him, but Logan wasn't about to ask Patton to do it. He set the shot glass, filled nearly to the brim, inside the jar. Although Vigil was eyeing Logan's blood hungrily, he stayed back at the base of the jar until Logan had pulled his hand away, and for that he was thankful. Logan refastened the lid and pulled back.

"Bon appetit," he said, throwing away the older, bloodied bandage. "Patton, I'm bandaged, but don't look at Virgil yet."

"'M not looking," Patton said, his voice quivering slightly. He kept his back towards Virgil's jar.

Virgil darted over to the cup of blood, drinking it just as quickly as before. Logan wanted to tell him to slow down, but he doubted that the vampire would listen.

When Virgil had about half drained the glass, Roman returned with the terrarium in his arms and a folded blanket tucked under one arm. "It was under some stuff," he explained. Then he saw Patton's tense form, and what Virgil was doing. "Oh." Roman set his load on the table and knelt in front of Patton, taking his hands.

Patton immediately relaxed a bit, smiling at him, and Roman felt his heart warm.

"Hey, Pat," Roman whispered.

"Hi," Patton whispered back.

"Doing okay?"

Patton nodded, if a little shakily. "It's just a lot," he said.

"Yeah, I get it," Roman said soothingly. "Don't look at him. Just look at me. Okay?"

"Okay."

Roman smiled up at him. Not his charming grin or his dazzling, 'look at me, I'm so great' smile, but the soft, vulnerable smile that only Patton and Logan got to see. The one that said, "I love you, so much. If you ask me to, I will battle a dragon-witch to the death for you. But, even greater than that, I will make you soup when you're sick, I will hold your hand when you are afraid, I will sit beside you when you're lonely, and I will hold you tight and never let you go."

Patton looked back into Roman's eyes, and he felt safe. "Thank you," he whispered.

Roman squeezed Patton's hands. "Of course."

After several long seconds, Logan announced, "Patton, it's safe to look."

Slowly, Patton turned. Sure enough, the shot glass was empty and licked clean. There wasn't even a single drop of blood on Virgil's face. (there had been, several in fact, but he had gotten it all into his stomach now.)

Virgil looked across at the glass box Roman had brought. Pointing, he asked, "Is that the turrium?"

"Terrarium," Logan said. "Yes."

Roman took the lid off. Then he hesitated. Just like last night, he didn't want to touch the vampire, again concerned about being bitten. But on the other hand, he didn't want to just let Virgil transport himself from one container to the other. He looked pleadingly at Logan, hoping he would know what to do.

Logan did know what to do. Or at least, he had an idea. He got up, getting a clean hand towel from the drawer. "Virgil," he said gently, crouching by the jar. "We're going to have to move you now. I promise to be very gentle, and I won't even handle you directly, alright?"

Virgil looked a lot less wary than he had earlier, but he still seemed a bit afraid. "Can't I just fly over?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, sorry," Logan said. "The whole trust thing again. We would have no way to guarantee you'd actually go to the terrarium, rather than flying off or attacking one of us."

"W-well, _I_ don't have a guarantee _you_ won't… crush me, or something!" Virgil protested, his worried face turned upwards.

That made Logan pause. The little vampire had a point. He set the towel aside. "Mutual risk?" he offered. "I can carry you in my hand; I'll promise not to squeeze you, and you promise not to bite me."

Virgil shuddered, but he agreed to it. Roman opened the jar for Logan, and Logan carefully slid his hand in through the opening. Virgil took a step away at first, but then stood still and allowed Logan to wrap his hand around him. Carefully, Logan picked him up and brought him out.

It was astounding. If he didn't consider himself obligated to move the vampire to the other container without undue pause, Logan would have been severely tempted to simply hold him for several minutes, marveling over the way the tiny man felt in his hand. The vampire was looking quite anxious, however, and Logan lowered him into the terrarium, releasing him at the bottom. Roman put the lid on almost before Logan had taken his hand out.

"Hang on," Logan said, grabbing the towel. He lifted the lid and dropped it in. "For a soft surface. You can hide in it if you want, or make a nest, or use it as a blanket."

Virgil approached the towel, touching it with one hand. "Thank you," he said softly.

"Where are we going to put his tank?" Patton asked. "Back in the bathroom?"

"How about the coat closet?" Roman suggested. "It's nice and dark in there, and we don't actually use it this time of year."

They all looked back at Virgil, who flinched a little. Realizing they wanted his opinion, though, he asked, "Can I still have a blanket on top? In case of sunlight?"

"Of course," Logan said, grabbing the blanket Roman had brought.

"Then okay."

"Shall we check back around sunset?" Logan asked, unfolding the blanket to drape it over Virgil's terrarium.

"Yes."

With the terrarium covered in case of any sunbeams in their path, Roman carried it to the coat closet and set it on the floor.

"Okay little guy, you're all set," he said. "Sleep well."

There was silence from within the tank, and Roman stood up. Then, as he was turning to go, "Thank you."


	5. What Happened at Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton and Virgil get some time alone together. There are a lot of emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: blood mention, being trapped, sorrow, death mention

Patton sat on the back porch, watching the sun go down. The other two hadn't let him go outside all that morning, in case a vampire bite just took a while to turn someone, but now that he knew he'd be staying human, Patton had enjoyed soaking in some rays. After the sun slipped entirely below the horizon, Patton got up and went back inside.

Going to the coat closet, Patton opened the door and cautiously lifted the edge of the blanket. There he was! An adorable little bat, hanging by his toes from the ceiling of Roman's terrarium.

"Hi, Virgil," Patton called softly. The bat twitched, and one ear turned to face him. Patton grinned. "Sun's down," he said. "D'you want out of the closet?"

The bat dropped. Patton was worried for a second, but Virgil spread his wings to slow his descent and landed on the towel. A moment later, he was human shaped again, sitting in the folds of cloth. "Yes please," he called.

Patton pulled the blanket off and dropped it to the side. Carefully wrapping his arms around the tank, he picked it up. Patton _tried_ to keep it level, but it tilted a bit anyway. Virgil and his towel slid several inches towards him.

"Did you sleep well?" Patton asked as he carried Virgil back to the kitchen/dining room area, looking down through the mesh lid at him.

"Yes," Virgil answered shortly, sounding more nervous. Patton supposed he'd be nervous too if a giant was carrying him in a big glass box. After a pause, the little vampire added, "Thank you."

"Oh, of course!" Patton said, grinning at him. He reached the kitchen table and set Virgil's tank on it. "There we go, buddy!"

Virgil got to his feet. "Thank you," he said again.

Patton crouched to be level with him. "You're welcome!"

They looked at each other for several long seconds. Then Virgil questioned in a bewildered tone, "I thought you were afraid of me."

Patton's eyes widened. "Why?" he asked.

"Because… because I bit you!" Virgil exclaimed. "And you wouldn't look at me while I was… was feeding."

"Oh!" Patton shook his head. "I'm not afraid of you," he soothed. "I just can't stand the sight of blood."

The tiny vampire looked confused. "Why?" he asked.

Patton made a face. "It's gross, and it's not supposed to come out of the body, and it makes me feel like throwing up if I see it."

"It makes _me_ feel hungry," Virgil answered, and Patton laughed.

"That makes sense," he said. "You _are_ a vampire."

"A what?"

"A vampire?" Patton paused, looking at him. "You don't know what you are?"

"I know what I am," Virgil huffed, crossing his arms. "I just don't know that word."

"It's… it's what we call people like you," Patton answered. He was pretty sure they'd used the word earlier that day while talking to Virgil, but the poor little guy _had_ looked pretty confused during the entire conversation. "With the drinking blood and turning into a bat, and not having a reflection. What do you call yourself, then?"

The little vampire gave him a flat look. "I call myself Virgil," he snarked.

Patton giggled. "Okay, Virgil," he said.

Virgil glanced around. Neither of the other humans were in sight. Slowly, he asked, "Since you're not afraid of me… will you let me out?"

To his disappointment, Patton shook his head. "Logan and Roman might get upset," he said. Virgil drooped, and Patton added, "Sorry."

"How long will you keep me here?" Virgil asked after a while, not making eye contact.

"I don't know," Patton admitted. "Logan's probably got a bajillion questions. He's very excited."

Virgil was _not_ excited about that prospect. But he also knew he couldn't do anything about it. There were three of them, and each of them was so much bigger than the only one of him. More than ever, he missed his family.

"I've never even _seen_ a vampire before," Patton admitted. "You guys must do a very good job of staying hidden."

"...yeah."

"Are there a lot of vampires around?" Patton asked. It was kindly meant, but the question felt like a fist clenched around Virgil's heart, crushing it.

"No," he choked out.

Patton was taken aback. That hadn't been a "this is my territory, the others stay away" sort of no, or a protective "I'll pretend there aren't so you don't touch them." It was the sort of no that meant, "There used to be. And now, it's just me." And from the sound of it, this was a recent development.

"Oh, Virgil," Patton said sympathetically. Virgil turned away, hugging himself. His shoulders shook, and Patton thought he was crying. "I'm so sorry."

Virgil said nothing. Patton's heart ached for him.

"Would…" Patton hesitated, but then forged on determinedly. "Would a hug help?"

Virgil looked up at him. He'd definitely been crying. With a sniffle, the little vampire nodded.

Patton took the lid off the terrarium, setting it to the side. He hesitated again for a moment before reaching inside. With both hands, Patton gently lifted Virgil out.

Virgil immediately curled up against Patton's fingers. Even though he felt sad for the little vampire, that brought a small smile to Patton's face. He carried Virgil into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Imma hug you now," Patton warned in a whisper. He held Virgil gently against his chest, both hands cupped around him. He felt tiny fingers latch onto his shirt and a tiny face press against him. "There, there," Patton said gently, brushing a thumb against Virgil's hair. The vampire let out a wail. "It's okay," Patton soothed. "Let it all out."

They sat like that for several minutes, Virgil crying into Patton's chest. Eventually, Virgil's sobs lessened and died away. However, he still clung to Patton's shirt, and when the human shifted his hand, the vampire whimpered and clung tighter, so Patton just continued to hold him. Virgil sniffled again, but much more calmly than earlier.

"Feel any better?" Patton asked.

"Mm-hm," Virgil mumbled, his voice muffled by the fact that his face was still pressed firmly into Patton's shirt.

"Good, good." Patton stroked Virgil's hair again. "Take your time. We can cuddle as long as you need."

"Thank you." The vampire's voice was scratchy. Patton frowned in concern.

"All that crying must've dried you out," he said. "Can I get you a glass of water?"

"Don't put me down!" Virgil cried out.

"I won't," Patton assured him. "Are you thirsty, though?"

After a moment's pause, Virgil nodded.

"Alright then." Patton got up, going into the kitchen. "I'm gonna need one hand, but that's it, okay, kiddo?"

Virgil whimpered a little, but he said, "Okay."

Patton gave the little vampire a comforting smile that he didn't see and carefully pulled one hand away. Still holding Virgil with the other hand and gently stroking his hair, Patton got out another of his shot glasses and filled it with water from the filter.

"If I hold it close to you, can you manage?"

"Mm-hm."

Patton brought the glass close, holding it right next to Virgil, who let go of Patton's shirt with one hand to put it on the rim of the glass instead. It was like a bucket for him. "Little sips," Patton cautioned.

Shakily, Virgil drank. He drank much more slowly than he'd drunk the blood Logan had given him earlier in the day, but he still downed nearly half the water before he stopped and turned his face into Patton's chest again.

"Feeling better?" Patton asked. Virgil nodded. "Good. Let's go back to the living room, then."

"Okay."

Patton sat on the couch again, smiling at the little figure he had cupped in his hands. Virgil seemed tuckered out from his sorrow, and to tell the truth, Patton was a bit tired too.

They both fell asleep.


	6. The Sixth Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman jumps to a conclusion. Logan gets an opportunity to educate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: (small amount of) blood, medical description of vulnerable blood vessels, death mention, mild fear/intimidation

Roman loved his job, he really did, but tonight he wanted nothing more than to get home again, especially as it drew toward evening. His thoughts kept drifting back to the vampire back at the house, and his two housemates. Hopefully nothing bad happened to them.

Roman sighed, forcing his thoughts back to the task at hand. Getting distracted with pins in hand was always a recipe for disaster, and he needed to _not_ stab the actor standing in front of him. Roman pursed his lips in a frown, making a minuscule adjustment in his pinning.

"Okay, spin," he said around the three pins still held lightly between his teeth. "Let's see how it fits."

Talyn grinned, spinning round slowly. "Fits like it was made for me!" they exclaimed.

"It very nearly was," Roman replied absently, looking at his handiwork with a critical eye. "Mm-hm, looks good. Get your costume buddy to help you take it off, _carefully_ , and I'll sew it up."

Roman was a wizard with a needle and thread, but these were fairly simple seams, and he found his mind wandering again as he sewed. The sun had nearly set by now, and the vampire would be waking up soon. Roman regretted not borrowing one of Logan's thick textbooks to weigh down the lid of the terrarium. Just how strong _was_ a vampire the size of your hand, anyway? Vampires in stories were always much stronger than humans, but vampires in stories were also as _big_ as humans.

Also, the vampire had tasted the blood of the only two people home. Sure, Patton was the only one he'd actually _bitten_ , but he'd had much more of Logan's blood. What if he'd developed a taste for them? What if, somehow, the vampire broke out of his container and drained both Patton and Logan of all their blood!?

"Ow!" Roman looked down, frowning. He'd pricked himself, right in the soft part of his thumb. He pulled it away from the costume and looked at it. One bright red drop appeared, and Roman scowled at it as though he could intimidate it back into his body. Of course, that didn't happen, and Roman got up with a sigh. Normally, he would have just put on a bandaid to make sure he didn't bleed on the costume, but now he wondered if, when he got home, the vampire would be able to tell that he'd been injured.

 _Stop it_ , Roman scolded himself, sticking his thumb in his mouth and getting out the first aid kit. _Logan said that the vampire is probably harmless._ He pawed through the metal box one-handedly, looking for the dot bandaids. _And anyway,_ his thoughts continued as he finally found one. _He's so little. There's no way he could drain even_ ** _one_** _of them, let alone both._ Logan had said that too. Roman put the bandaid on his thumb and went back to sewing.

Finally, he was done. Roman packed everything up so he could go home.

The sun was well below the horizon as Roman drove home. The vampire had probably been awake for some time now. Roman wondered what was going on, and firmly forbade his imagination from running off into the darker possibilities.

All seemed calm. Roman unlocked the side door, letting himself in, and latched it again behind him. At first glance, nothing was out of the ordinary. But when Roman started into the rest of the house, he froze in the doorway between the kitchen and the entryway.

Dragon's old terrarium was on the table. Its lid was off. And it was empty. The vampire was loose. Was he still in the house, or was he outside, and doubtless long gone? Roman was sure that Logan wouldn't have intentionally released the vampire yet, not with all the questions he had. Had the vampire escaped on his own? Where were Roman's housemates?

Roman rushed through the living room and down the hall. He burst into Logan's room, and the nerd, sitting at his desk, jerked up from his book.

"Welcome home, Roman," Logan said coolly.

"Hi Logan," Roman said. "Did you know the vampire got out?"

Logan was on his feet faster than seemed humanly possible. "What?"

"The terrarium is on the table, lid off, empty!" Roman said. "Where's Patton?"

Logan frowned. "I don't know." He strode out the door, and Roman scrambled to keep up.

They checked Patton's room. It was vacant. The two housemates, rather worried now, continued down the hall into the living room.

"Here he is," Logan said, relieved. Patton was asleep on the couch that separated the dining area from the living room. Roman hadn't seen him from the kitchen because lying down, he was shorter than the back of the couch, and then in his panic, Roman had run right past him.

"Oh, good." Roman came over. Noticing that Patton's hands were cupped over something on his chest, Roman asked, "What's that he's holding?"

Logan learned closer. "Not sure."

The thing Patton was holding ducked further under his hands.

"It's the vampire!" Roman gasped.

"Virgil?" Logan questioned. "Virgil, come out of there."

A tiny face peeked out at them from between the sleeping Patton's fingers, but Virgil defiantly stayed put.

"Virgil, come out," Logan said again, more sternly.

"No."

Patton stirred, finally, blinking up at the other two. "Hi…" he said softly. "Whatcha doin so close?"

"Patton," Roman said in a deliberately calm voice. "Don't panic, but the vampire got out."

There was a squeak from inside Patton's hands, and Patton glanced down at them. Virgil looked fearfully back out at him.

"No, it's okay," Patton said, still a little sleepily. "He's right here." He started to open his hands to show them, but the tiny vampire started to tremble, latching on to Patton's shirt again. "He's just a little shy," Patton apologized, folding his hands over Virgil again.

"Why are you holding him?" Logan asked.

Patton hesitated. He didn't want to expose Virgil's sorrows to them just for the sake of an explanation. Finally, he said, "We were cuddling. I guess we fell asleep."

Roman's eyebrows rose. "You decided to just _cuddle_ a bloodthirsty vampire… and he let you?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure that was a wise decision?" Logan asked. Patton scowled at him.

"He was upset, Lo! And he doesn't eat cookies! How else was I supposed to comfort him?"

Logan sighed. "Very well," he said. "I trust that you are both unharmed?"

"Mm-hm," Patton said. He brushed his thumb down Virgil's arm. "Can you two back off a bit? I think you're scaring him."

Logan immediately took a large step backward. Roman, pouting, stayed where he was until Logan tugged on his sleeve. Then he backed up to stand next to Logan.

Slowly, Patton sat up, keeping one hand carefully cupped around Virgil. "Do you think you can let go, buddy?" he asked gently. "I won't let them hurt you, I promise."

Slowly, Virgil released his grip on Patton's shirt, and Patton pulled him away. There was a bit of wriggling, which ended with Virgil sitting in Patton's open palm, Patton's fingers curled protectively up around him.

"Good job, kiddo," Patton praised, stroking Virgil's back with the back of a finger from his other hand. Virgil leaned into his touch and gave off the distinct impression that if he was capable of it, he'd be purring right now.

"Impressive," Logan murmured. "He seems very calm around you."

"You've tamed him!" Roman added. Virgil hissed at him, and Roman flinched back.

"He just… I just showed him a little kindness," Patton said. He touched Virgil gently on the top of his head. "I imagine this must all be very stressful, huh, Virgil?"

The little vampire nodded, but he didn't look very stressed now. In fact, he seemed rather pleased with the attention he was getting, from Patton anyway.

Roman sputtered. "Patton, he's a vampire!" he said indignantly. "He _bit_ you!"

"I know," Patton said, rubbing his fingers against Virgil's scalp. Even more than before, Virgil looked like he might start purring at any second. "But he was starving, Roman. And it didn't hurt, and he didn't drink much."

"That reminds me," Logan said. "I should check on your bite." The nearest first aid kit was under the coffee table, and Logan crouched to grab it. Turning around without standing up, he sat at Patton's feet. "May I roll your pant leg up?"

"Okay."

Logan did so, and then, the first aid kit sitting open beside him, carefully peeled the bandaid off.

"How is it?" asked Patton, who was carefully not looking.

"Astounding," Logan said. "It's all healed up." He cupped Patton's calf in his hand and brushed his thumb across where the wound had been. "Tender at all?"

"No."

Logan made an impressed sound. "You can barely tell you even got bit," he said. "There are still two little marks, but I think they'll fade."

Roman leaned over to get a look. "It's only been a day!" he exclaimed.

"Yes," Logan agreed. "And yet, in under 24 hours, Patton's bite has completely healed up." He packed the first aid kit back up and put it away. "I think you're good to go, Pat."

"Yay!" Patton cheered softly. He grinned at the others. "Logan, does this mean that you don't have to cut your finger anymore?"

Logan glanced at his hand. The bandage around his finger was stiff, and he knew it would take a while to heal, even if he didn't aggravate it more. "Well, I would like to run some tests on our little guest's saliva before I'd feel comfortable letting him bite anyone. But if it is indeed safe, if would certainly be a better option than using a knife."

"I'm sure you're safe," Patton said to Virgil, who looked happily back up at him. "You can bite me if you have to."

"Patton, no!" the other two protested at the same time.

Patton pouted. "But he bit me before and I'm fine," he said. "Besides, we're friends now. Virgil wouldn't hurt me. Would you, kiddo?"

"He's probably older than you," Logan commented as Virgil shook his head. "And that's not the point! He could have germs, or something."

Patton made a face. "But Logan," he protested. "Cutting your fingers up isn't safe either! You could get an infection! Virgil knows what he's doing."

Logan had to concede that point.

"Are you hungry, Virgil?" Patton asked gently. The little vampire nodded. "Okay. Where do you want to bite? Do you wanna bite my neck?"

"No!" Logan and Roman exclaimed together.

"Patton, biting the neck is something vampires in stories do if they want to drink _all_ of your blood," Logan continued disapprovingly. "Your carotid arteries are right there, and they bleed very easily and profusely. Your jugular veins are next to them, and while puncturing a jugular would be significantly less dangerous than puncturing a carotid, we'd still have to rush you to the emergency room. So, since we want to keep you _alive_ and most of your blood _inside_ your body, having Virgil bite your neck would be a very bad idea."

"Oh," Patton said in a small voice.

"I don't want you to die," Virgil agreed.

Patton looked down at Virgil again. "Well, where _do_ you wanna bite, buddy?"

"Can…" Virgil paused, looking shy. "Can I bite your finger?"

Patton looked to Logan, who just sighed and got the first aid kit out again. "That should be fine. He'll just puncture capillaries there."

Virgil grinned. "Can you, um. Hold me like this?" he asked, lifting one hand with the fingers curled around an imaginary shape.

"Sure, of course," Patton said. He gently wrapped his other hand around Virgil's torso. "Good?"

"Yes." Virgil bent forward, licking Patton's pointer finger between two joints. Patton giggled, and then looked away. Virgil licked it again. Then he bit.

This worked much better than the last time he'd bitten Patton. The human's finger bled easily, and Virgil slurped it up. He was aware of the other two humans watching him closely, but he tried to put them out of his mind. He had _permission_. Patton wouldn't let them hurt him.

Since the blood wasn't in a cup for him, it took Virgil longer to drink the same amount. But eventually, he was satisfied. He started to pull away, but then remembered what Patton had said about not liking to see blood. Virgil put his hands on either side of the bite, hiding it from view so that he could lift his mouth a fraction of an inch.

"Oh-an!" he said. "An-aj?"

Logan had already gotten the supplies he needed, and when Virgil called out, he was ready in seconds. Virgil licked the last drops of blood off Patton's finger and leaned back.

Logan cleaned the bite wound with an alcohol wipe and put on a small, round, brightly colored bandaid. "There we go. All done."

Patton, who had been carefully not looking, looked now. Virgil patted the green bandaid with his fingers, looking curious.

"How does it stay on?" he asked.

"It's sticky," Logan replied. He had been packing up the first aid kit again, but now he paused to explain. "Like tape. Have you seen tape before?"

The vampire frowned in thought, then shook his head.

"Do you want to see a bandaid?" Logan offered. "We can spare at least one."

"Yes please."

Logan pulled another bandaid out of the box and handed it to Virgil. "It's sealed up in that paper so it stays clean until we need it," he explained. "See how on the edge, the two layers of paper aren't stuck together?" Virgil nodded, and Logan continued, "That's so it opens easily. Grab both flaps and see if you can pull the layers apart."

Virgil followed his instructions, gripping the flaps firmly. He yanked them apart, and the little round bandaid — this one a bright, cheery yellow — flew out. Virgil watched it with wide eyes as it fluttered down to the floor. Logan picked it up and handed it back. Virgil dropped the paper wrapping to take it.

"Okay, so on one side there's the yellow plastic cloth," Logan continued explaining. "And on the other side, there's paper again." Virgil turned the bandage over in his hands, nodding along. "This paper protects the sticky part of the bandaid, so that it stays sticky until we need it. You can peel it off too."

With a nod, Virgil pulled one half circle of paper off. He paused for a moment, and then dropped it over the side of Patton's hand. It fluttered to the floor. Then Virgil pulled the other half off and dropped it too.

"See the white square in the middle?" Logan asked. Virgil nodded. "That's the gauze. We put that against a wound, and the sticky part around it holds it in place."

Virgil nodded again. He touched the gauze, and then the sticky yellow tape. It clung to his finger, and he had to work to get it off again. He looked back at Logan.

"And that's it," Logan said.

Carefully, Virgil flipped the bandaid over so that it was sticky side down and draped it over Patton's finger. He smoothed it out, sticking it down.

Patton giggled. "Yep, just like that, kiddo!" he said. "Good job!"

Virgil turned and grinned up at him. Then he wriggled in Patton's grip. Patton shifted it, holding him in an open palm again.

"Good?"

"Good."

"Now that you're fed, Virgil," Logan said, "May I ask you some more questions?"

Virgil hesitated. "Okay."


	7. Questions and Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan asks so many more questions that it fades to black in the middle and comes back to the boys at a later point. Patton helps Virgil set up for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: Sorrow, death mention, murder mention

Logan threw away the bits of trash and got his notebook out again. "As long as Patton's okay with it, you can stay in his hands if it makes you more comfortable," he said, sitting down on the coffee table in front of them.

"Good." Virgil settled down further into Patton's hand, and Patton grinned, touching the vampire's shoulder again.

"How old are you?" Logan asked.

"An adult," Virgil answered.

"Okay… but how many years?"

The vampire shrugged. Logan sighed and moved on.

"Can you turn into things besides a bat?" Virgil looked confused, so Logan elaborated, "Like a snake or a wolf, or perhaps fog?"

"No…" Virgil said slowly. "I only have two shapes."

"Hm," Logan said, writing it down. "Alright. Are you undead?"

Virgil looked even more confused, and a little bit nervous. "Yes?" he said. "I'm not dead?"

"That's not… quite what that means," Logan said. _Not undead_ , he wrote. "Don't worry about it. Now, I did some research, and I found that vampires in stories are frequently loners, while vampire _bats_ are very social. Which is the case for you?"

Logan did not expect the reaction he got. Virgil's immediately stiffened. Then his lower lip quivered, his shoulders hunched, and he screwed his eyes closed.

"What… what's wrong?" Logan asked in concern. Virgil appeared to be on the brink of tears, and Logan had no idea why.

"Logan!" Patton scolded, holding Virgil closer. "His family was _murdered_!"

"Oh. I'm sorry," Logan said sincerely. "I had no idea."

Virgil sniffled.

"Do… do you want some time alone?" Logan offered awkwardly. He was not good with emotions.

Virgil shook his head.

"Can I continue asking questions?"

The little vampire hesitated, and Roman answered instead. "Lo, lay off the little guy, alright?"

"It's okay," Virgil whispered.

"You sure?" Patton asked in concern.

"I… y-yeah. It's okay."

Logan picked up his list of questions, making a note not to ask any regarding other vampires, or vampiric vulnerabilities. "Okay… Do you eat anything besides blood?"

"No… just blood," Virgil said.

Logan nodded. "Thought so, but I wanted to check. Does it have to be human blood?"

"No…" Virgil admitted. "But human blood is best."

"Nutritionally? Or taste?"

"Both? Cow blood makes my stomach feel weird."

Logan hummed thoughtfully, writing that down. "Is the thing about needing permission to enter a house true?"

"Uh huh."

~~

Quite a while later, after Logan had asked many more questions, Roman stretched. "It's getting late," he said. "I know _you're_ nocturnal, Vampy, but the three of us usually sleep at night."

"Oh, are you going to bed?" Patton asked, while Logan looked at his watch. It was rather later than he'd thought.

"I think we should _all_ go to bed," Roman said pointedly. "Except for Virgil, I guess."

"Yes, I do need to be up in the morning," Logan agreed, getting up. "Goodnight."

Patton gently set Virgil down on the armrest so he could get up and wrap Logan in a hug. "Goodnight, Logan," he said. "I love you."

"Love you too, Patton," Logan said, hugging him back.

Before they could separate, Roman hugged them both from the side. "Aww," Patton said happily, while Logan squirmed.

"This is not how group hugs work, Roman," he scolded, not for the first time.

Roman let them go, and Logan pulled away from the other two, adjusting his glasses. Patton hugged Roman, who picked him up and spun him around. Patton's foot nearly clipped Logan in the knee, but he moved out of the way just in time.

"Goodnight, Roman," Patton giggled.

"Goodnight, Patton," Roman answered.

Roman set Patton down, kissed him on the forehead, and looked over to Logan.

"Oh, all right," Logan said, opening his arms. Roman grabbed him off his feet in a big bear hug, startling Logan for a second even though he'd been half expecting it. Logan patted Roman on the shoulder. "Goodnight, Roman," he said.

"Goodnight, Nerd," Roman said, and hid his face in Logan's chest as Logan swatted at his head.

Logan rolled his eyes, but he was smiling at the same time. "You can put me down now, Roman," he said.

"I _could_ ," Roman agreed, but instead he sauntered off down the hall with Logan still in his arms. Logan squirmed, but it was more for show than anything. By the time Roman had gone five paces, Logan had made himself comfortable and was smiling down at him.

Patton giggled, watching them go. Then he looked back at Virgil, who'd been watching their roughhousing with some alarm. "You gonna stay up all night?" he asked.

Virgil tore his gaze away from the other two and looked up at Patton. "I'm usually awake until almost sunrise," he confirmed.

"Well, we usually try to go to bed by midnight," Patton said. "So I'm gonna sleep in a minute too. But we should get you all set up so you can go to bed when you get sleepy." He glanced back at the terrarium on the table. "Did you sleep okay today?"

Virgil nodded a bit. "It was okay," he said. "I miss my cave."

"I'll see what I can do about that tomorrow," Patton promised. "For now, what if we just set up the terrarium so you can get in and out by yourself?"

"Okay."

Patton went back to the table and picked up the glass box. Virgil shifted into his other, batlike form and followed him as Patton carried it over to the coat closet. He set the terrarium on the floor again, near the back of the closet. Patton put the lid on sideways across the middle so that it stuck out over both sides of the rectangular terrarium and didn't cover the whole top. Then he draped the blanket over all of it but the side facing away from the door, leaving an opening.

"Come see," he said, and Virgil, who'd been hanging back at the doorway, flew over and landed on the cloth. It sagged a bit under him. He poked his head down into the opening, and then crawled inside. After a few seconds, he climbed back out again, turning human shaped as he did.

"I like it," Virgil said, sitting on the edge of the terrarium. "Just one problem."

"What?"

Virgil pointed at the doorway to the coat closet. "You had to invite me in."

"Oh." Patton frowned. "Well, this is kinda your bedroom now, isn't it?" he said. Imitating Roman for a moment, Patton declared, "As a resident of this house, I hereby give you standing permission to enter this room as many times as you want."

Virgil looked a bit dubious.

"Try it?" Patton urged.

Virgil turned back into a bat and flew out the doorway. Then he flew back in. It worked! The vampire flew a happy little loop-de-loop, and then fluttered back and forth from inside the room to outside and back again.

"Hooray!" Patton said happily. "It worked!"

Virgil landed on his head.

"You okay?"

"Mm-hm," the little vampire said. Patton felt a tiny hand rub along his scalp, and Virgil added, "Your hair is soft."

Patton grinned. "That's cause I use conditioner," he said. "But I do need to go to bed now, okay Virgil?"

"Okay…" Virgil said, but he didn't move.

Patton very carefully stood up and exited the coat closet. He closed the door most of the way, but left enough of a gap for Virgil to get back in later. Walking as steadily as he could, Patton headed back down the hall. At the doorway to his room, he whispered, "You can come in," before he entered.

Soft moonlight shone through Patton's window as he ever so slowly changed into his pajamas, doing his best to not jostle the wee vampire nesting in his hair. Then Patton sat down on his bed, wondering what to do next. He didn't want to dump Virgil off, but he couldn't lie down without tilting his head, either. Finally, he put his hand up to brace Virgil as he lay slowly down, and let Virgil slip onto his pillow above his head.

"Virgil, promise me you'll get somewhere safe and dark before the sun comes up, okay?" Patton said sleepily.

"Okay."

Patton fell asleep to the delightful sensation of tiny hands running gently through his hair.


	8. Patton's Quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton goes on a quest to fulfill his promise, and enlists the help of one Roman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No content warnings this chapter

When Patton woke, sunlight was streaming into his room and his pillow was empty except for his own head. He hoped that meant that Virgil had gone to bed before dawn, and not that he'd been caught in the sunlight and disintegrated. Patton looked at his pillow again. The pillowcase was clean, so unless vampires turned into something cleaner than dust or ash, Virgil was probably fine.

Patton decided to check on him anyway. Sneakily, he eased the coat closet door open and slipped inside, closing it most of the way again behind him. It was dark, with the door closed that far, but having light would rather defeat the purpose of his visit. Patton got round to the far side of the terrarium, peeking in through the glass. He didn't see anything at first, but as his eyes adjusted, he spotted a small dark shape dangling from the lid. Patton smiled. Virgil was fine. He went back out, leaving the door barely cracked.

He'd promised Virgil he'd help make him feel more at home, and Patton was determined to do so. (If Roman were there, he thought to himself with a giggle, he'd declare it a _quest_.) What all would a small vampire need? Well, perhaps he should start with Virgil's sleeping arrangements. Virgil had said he missed his cave. 

Probably, they should let Virgil go back. But Logan still had a lot of questions, and Patton found himself also reluctant to let Virgil go. For one thing, Virgil's cave would be empty when he got there. Patton didn't know how many other vampires there used to be, but he did know he couldn't let Virgil be alone.

For now, he'd try to build him a cave. What could he make a cave out of? Patton knew how to build a blanket fort, but something told him Virgil wouldn't want that. Patton sighed and went looking for Roman.

He wasn't in the house, but when Patton went outside to look around, he spotted Roman sprawled comfortably on a sunny portion of roof. Patton ran back inside to climb out an upper window. Once he had done so, he carefully walked along the slanted roof to where his housemate was.

Roman lay sketching an outfit, probably a costume for an upcoming show. Patton, not wanting to interrupt, sat down beside him and quietly watched.

Finally, Roman looked up. "Hey, Patty-Cake," he greeted. Patton grinned. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I need to pick your brain," Patton said. It was a funny sentence he'd heard one of Logan's other friends say once, and he quite liked it.

"Logan's the smart one," Roman replied offhandedly, bending over his paper again. He didn't sound upset about this, only said it like it was fact.

Patton shook his head. "I don't need doctor-y stuff, or stats, or case studies, or any of that. I need theatre knowledge."

Roman brightened. "I can help with that!" he said cheerfully.

"Have you ever done a play in a cave?" Patton asked.

Roman made a thoughtful humming sound. "We did do _Plato's Cave_ a few years ago," he said after a moment. “It kinda sucked.”

"What was the cave made of?"

Roman looked stumped for a second. "I'm head of costuming, not set design," he reminded Patton gently. But he tried to remember anyway. "I think they carved some rocks out of styrofoam and painted them gray." 

Patton nodded. They had some styrofoam, he was pretty sure…

"This for Virgil?" Roman guessed gently.

Patton nodded. "To sleep in," he explained. "He doesn't like the terrarium much." He glanced away. "He said he misses his cave."

Roman nodded thoughtfully. "Obviously we can't replace a whole cave," he said. "But some rocks might help. Styrofoam probably won't hold up very well to a vampire hanging from it, but maybe one of those fake rocks for aquariums. Or pour something out of concrete." He eyed Patton carefully. "But Patton… Just how long do you think he'll be staying with us, though?"

Patton sighed, pulling one leg up to his chest and looping his arm around it. "I don't know. Obviously we can't keep him forever. But… he's all alone, Roman! If he goes back to his cave, it… it won't be like it was before."

Roman sat up and patted Patton on the back. "I think you should ask him if he _wants_ to go back," he said. "Or if he'd like to stay."

Patton looked up, surprised. "I thought you didn't like him." 

Roman sighed. "I didn't _trust_ him," he admitted. "I didn't want him to hurt you." He paused for a moment, then changed the topic abruptly.  "I got up for a glass of water last night, about three in the morning, and I snuck into your room to check on you." He hesitated. "Did you know I do that?"

Patton nodded. "I like to check up on you two too," he said. "I have to cajole Logan into bed at least once a week."

Roman chuckled. "Me too, except I just pick him up and carry him over."

"Not everyone can have your muscles," Patton retorted, poking Roman in the arm.

Roman grinned proudly. "Well, anyway, I found Virgil all tangled up in these curly locks," he said, running his own fingers through Patton's hair. Patton leaned into his touch with a smile. "He looked very snug. And I realized that he must've been in your room all night, and didn't hurt you at all, so…" Roman shrugged. "He likes you," he pointed out. 

"I like him too," Patton whispered. 

"I'm just saying," Roman said, and then paused to figure out just what it was he was just saying. "He's bonded with you. Logan would probably have some stuff to say about loss and healing and whatever, but my point is, you were there when he needed someone, and… he cares about you." Roman pointed his pencil at Patton. "And we've all known since forever that you're as eager to adopt all the orphans as Bruce Wayne. We just never expected your first Robin to be a tiny immortal bloodsucker." Roman's eyes widened in realization. "Waitaminute! You're Batman in this scenario, and you're adopting a literal _bat man_."

Patton giggled a little at the pun, feeling better.

"Anyway." Roman shrugged. "We should definitely ask Logan, and Virgil too of course, but… I for one wouldn't mind the little guy sticking around."

Patton grinned. "Thank you, Roman," he said.

"Of course, Pop Star."

They sat there together quietly for several minutes, until a sudden breath of wind blew Roman's drawing off the roof, and Patton had to stop him from jumping down after it.


	9. Not Remotely Nuclear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bois eat dinner and talk about adoption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger warnings: I think we’re good on this one.

Logan was working that day and didn’t get home until around dinner time (The fact that they had arranged dinner time to be shortly after Logan got home on the average day was irrelevant), so Patton and Roman explained Roman’s suggestion over spaghetti.

As Roman had predicted, Logan had a theory as to why Virgil had taken to Patton so well. It was actually fairly similar to what Roman had said earlier that day, with Patton being there when Virgil most needed someone and filling the hole in Virgil’s heart. But, Logan being Logan, his theory included several citations to studies he had read sometime in the past and one he’d read over his lunch break.

“So…” Patton asked hopefully, “can we adopt him?”

Logan adjusted his tie. “From what I’ve gathered, vampires —as with vampire bats and humans— seem to be very social creatures,” he said. “It would almost certainly be detrimental to Virgil’s health if he were to go entirely without interaction. Ideally, he ought to be among his own kind—” Patton’s face fell. “—but as it appears Virgil is the only vampire in the area, that would prove difficult. It may be possible to assist him in finding another colony of vampires. However, not only do we not know where to look, or whether another colony would even be willing to take him in, but the act of moving away from everything that’s familiar would likely negatively affect his psyche.”

“So… what should we do?” Patton asked, eyes wide and pleading.

“Since we cannot provide the best scenario solution, we ought to try for the best we _can_ do,” Logan said. He took another bite of spaghetti. “This is very good, by the way. Did you use a new recipe?”

Patton’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment. “Oh, the spaghetti? Yeah, I put an eggplant in the sauce,” he said. “But what about _Virgil_?”

Logan took a drink. “The way things stand now,” he said, “our best course of action appears to be to go with your plan and offer Virgil a home and companionship.” Patton lit up, and Logan continued. “Of course, he may decline, but I believe that living with us would be healthier for him than the alternatives currently available, even though we could not provide anything like a traditional family structure, either by human standards or vampire ones.”

“A family can be three best friends and a tiny vampire,” Roman answered with a grin. 

Logan smiled back. “I did say ‘traditional.’” As the matter seemed to be settled, he asked, “Roman, how has that tricky quick change been coming?”

Roman lit up. “I think we’re nearly there,” he said. “There are now five actors assisting, and last night we got down to twelve seconds. And today I came up with a way to use some of the same pieces so they don’t have to come off!”

“How fast does it need to be?” Patton asked, temporarily distracted from his thoughts of adoption.

“If we can do it in five seconds, that would be _perfect_ ,” Roman answered. “But anything less than ten would honestly be pretty great.” He beamed. “I cannot _wait_ to see you two’s faces when you see the play, it’s been a lot of fun to costume for, and we’ve got _such_ a good cast. I love them all.”

The others smiled back at him, unable to resist his enthusiasm. “Opening night,” Patton promised.

Logan nodded. “I have double and triple checked that I will have that evening off, and that should there be any emergency for which I might ordinarily be on call, at minimum two other fully qualified individuals will be present.”

“Did anything exciting happen at work today?” Patton asked him.

“Nothing that is both non-confidential and wouldn’t turn your stomach,” Logan replied calmly. “Overall, my shift went optimally.” He ate another bite of spaghetti, looking thoughtful. “I did hold an infant.”

“Awwww!” Patton squealed.

Logan couldn’t help a grin. “It was less adorable at the time, as said infant was crying shrilly,” he admitted. “And I’m sure someone else could have done a better job of comforting. But yes. You would have enjoyed being there.”

~~~

After dinner, Logan put the leftovers away while Roman rinsed off the plates and serving bowls and put everything in the dishwasher. 

Patton stood by the kitchen window, looking out at the darkening sky. The sun, while low, was still entirely above the horizon. Logan joined him, putting a hand reassuringly on Patton’s elbow.

“What if he says no?” Patton asked, not looking at the others.

“Then we will give him our best wishes and an open invitation to visit any time he likes,” Logan answered.

Patton made a distressed sound.

“Maybe think about something else for a while,” Roman said from the sink. He scooped up some water and flung a spray of droplets at their backs. They both jumped, though Logan tried to hide it, and Patton squeaked in surprise. “You can’t do anything right now to affect the result,” Roman continued. “So it’s useless to stress over it.”

Logan nodded. “It will take several minutes for the sun to set,” he said. “While we wait, why don’t we put a puzzle together?”

Patton nodded. “Okay. Roman?”

“I’ll catch up when I’m done in here,” Roman answered. “Still gotta wash the cooking dishes.”

“Very well.” Logan lead Patton away, leaving Roman in the kitchen by himself. They went to Logan’s room instead, and Patton immediately went to Logan’s puzzle shelf, while Logan stacked books and papers to clear space on his desk.

Patton ran a finger down the sides of the boxes, listing them out loud. “Butterflies, under the ocean, castle, old house covered in plants, medical diagrams, waterfall…” He paused, lingering on a box, and then grinned and tapped it twice. “Kittens!” Careful not to dislodge the rest of the stack— puzzles were fun, but none of them wanted to put together half a dozen at once again— Patton eased the kitten puzzle out of the shelf.

Logan turned to see. Patton held up the puzzle with a wide grin, and Logan couldn’t help grinning back. It was indeed an appealing picture, and Patton’s smile was contagious. Logan pulled his desk chair off to the side out of the way and waved Patton over. With a bounce in his step, Patton crossed the room and put the box on Logan’s now-empty desk, easing the lid off to expose the puzzle pieces within.

“Dump ‘em?” he asked.

“Dump them,” Logan agreed, so Patton upended the box, pouring puzzle pieces across the entire top of the desk. Then he replaced the lid and set the whole thing at the back of the desk, leaning against the wall so that they could reference the picture but it was out of the way.

Together, the two of them started shifting the puzzle pieces around. Logan flipped them over so they were lying face up, while Patton spread them out thinner. Then, once all the pieces were facing up, Logan began to sort them by color. Patton picked out a couple edge pieces for the border, but then he noticed that he could put one of Logan’s piles together to show a ball of yarn, and did so.

Gradually, the puzzle took shape. There were either twenty-three or twenty-four kittens (Patton and Roman had both counted, but they couldn’t agree on whether or not the tail sticking out from the side of the couch and the face peeking out from the front of it belonged to the same cat), and as each was completed, Patton gave it a boop on the nose, or if it was facing away, a fond pat. Logan thought Patton was far cuter than the kittens, but said nothing in words, only gazed at him warmly. 

The puzzle was over half done when they heard a yelp from the hall. Patton looked toward the half-closed door worriedly. “Was that Roman?”

“It did sound like him,” Logan answered, still looking at the puzzle. “But as it was his ‘unexpected moth in my face’ or ‘suddenly the lights are off’ scream, rather than one of true fright, I doubt there is reason for concern.”

Patton looked unconvinced, but as no more sounds of distress followed, he returned his attention to the puzzle.

They only had a handful of pieces left when there came a knock, and the door opened further. On the other side stood Roman, and to the others’ surprise, Virgil was standing on his shoulder, holding on to Roman’s ear to keep his balance. 

For several seconds, nobody said anything. Then Virgil said, very softly, “Hi.”


	10. Virgil Gets Up To Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is not a peeping tom. Roman and Virgil both make each other nervous (by nature of their species).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Content/Trigger Warnings:** a little bit of crude humor on the part of the author, general nervousness, mention of death/potentially fatal scenario

Virgil slept better that day than he had since the slayer had come. When he woke at sunset, he felt rested and secure. Almost more rested and more secure than he usually did at home. Almost. Virgil looked around. He was still in the glass box — the “tur air ee um” — but the lid hadn’t been sealed over him. Virgil flew over to the opening at one end and peeked out. The room was pleasantly dark.

Virgil climbed out of the box onto the lid, but then hesitated. Patton had said he could come and go as he pleased, but what about the other two humans? They hadn’t seemed willing to have Virgil flying loose around their home, especially that Roman one, and Virgil didn’t want them to become angry with him while he was their captive. Virgil sat on the blanket. Patton had come and got him yesterday. Could he expect the same today?

Without the moon or the stars, Virgil couldn’t tell how long he waited. It felt like an eternity, but in reality it wasn’t more than a few minutes. Finally Virgil decided to exit the room. After all, the door was open. Maybe he could even find an open window and escape. Though… if he did escape, where would he go? His cave was empty, his family gone. Virgil had nowhere. 

He didn’t want to think about that right now. Virgil flew out the open door and paused to get his bearings. A large room was to his left, and a long passageway extended in front of him. Patton’s sleeping place was that way, Virgil remembered, as well as those of the other two humans. He had wondered last night if it was a human thing to sleep apart from each other instead of close together in a protective group, but right now the question didn’t seem very important. There didn’t seem to be any humans around at the moment to ask anyway.

There was only one room down the passageway which Virgil could enter without being granted permission, and neither of its windows had been open last night, but Virgil flew that way anyway to check it out again, going past the doorways into the three humans’ sleeping places. He peeked into Patton’s as he passed it, but it was vacant.

The room at the end of the passageway was a strange one, and Virgil didn’t know what it was for. Most of the house had furred floors, but this one had a brownish stone floor, and a weirdly smooth, eerily perfectly white stone platform higher up (about the height of a human’s waist, if Virgil had to guess), which had a large divot at the near end and rested on large wooden supports.

A thick wall of the same material, tall enough that Virgil could only get over it by flying but not as tall as the platform, sectioned off the end of the rectangular room. That entire end of the room, except for the top foot or so, had walls made of smooth white stone, and the floor too was white, though not quite as smooth. There was also a peculiar statue made of the same white stone between the platform and the walled-off space, and some very shiny metal secured in seemingly random spots around the room.

It was, to be honest, bewildering. But, weird as the room was, it had two windows, and Virgil inspected both. The first took up most of the wall above the white platform, and it had to be a very thick window, because Virgil’s echolocation insisted that it was merely a wall, despite his being able to clearly see another room, nearly identical to this one, on the other side. (and what the humans needed with _two_ of these strange rooms, Virgil couldn't fathom.) Just like last night, there were no openings into the other room. He wasn’t sure how much good it would have done him if there were anyway. It would just lead into another part of the house, after all.

Virgil flew to the other window. It was much smaller and higher up, nearly at the ceiling, and was centered above the strange white wall. If it was open, it would be big enough for Virgil to easily fly through, but a human wouldn’t be able to get more than an arm out at a time, if they could even reach it. Virgil landed on the sill. This window, too, was closed. He hadn’t really expected it to be open, as it had been closed last night, but he’d hoped it might be.

As Virgil turned to go, one of the humans entered the room, closing the door behind him. At the same time, the space was flooded with bright light, and Virgil flinched, quailing against the glass of the window. He was trapped with a human!

The human (who Virgil now recognized as Roman) strode with purpose toward Virgil’s end of the room. Virgil curled up into a protective ball, shuddering. But Roman didn’t seem very interested in Virgil. He stopped in front of the strange statue instead, lifting away part of it to reveal a hollow space with water at the bottom. Virgil was still confused, but then Roman dropped his pants and — oh. _That_ was what this room was for. Virgil covered his face with a wing to give the human some privacy, feeling embarrassed himself. 

After a bit, there was the sound of a lot of water rushing around. Virgil waited for a second, and then peeked over his wing. Roman was fully dressed again and standing in front of the strange divot in the white platform. A stream of water was pouring out from the bit of metal attached there, and Roman had his hands in it, rubbing them together.

 _Where did the water come from?_ Virgil wondered. As he watched, Roman struck part of the metal with his hand, and the stream stopped, though the sound of flowing water only decreased slightly. The human shook his hands, then turned and dried them on a cloth hanging behind him. Then Roman opened the door and went out, touching the wall as he went. The bright light vanished, leaving Virgil in comfortable darkness again.

Virgil quickly flew out of the room. He didn’t want to be stuck in there any longer. Roman was walking through the passageway to the rest of the house, and Virgil flew above him.

Just after he passed the human, Virgil heard a loud shout behind him, and he immediately flew up, right against the ceiling, before looking back. To his surprise, Roman was crouching low, hands lifted as though to protect his head.

Virgil hovered in place, confused. Roman looked up, eyes locking on him, and slowly straightened. 

“Hi, Virgil,” the human said, startling Virgil by sounding a little nervous. 

“Hi, Roman,” Virgil answered, just as nervous. 

Roman frowned, glancing back toward the room they’d both just been in. “Were you in the bathroom?” he asked, sounding a bit confused. And then, scandalized, “Were you watching me _pee_?”

“No!” Virgil protested. “I wouldn’t, that’s gross!”

“Well?” Roman asked, and Virgil realized that maybe human ears couldn’t hear bat voices. He’d have to shift forms to talk to Roman. But he certainly didn’t want to do that right here. There was no way Virgil was going to land on the floor in front of a possibly irritated human. Instead, he turned and flew back toward the rest of the house. Roman followed, protesting, “Hey, wait up! I’m talking to you!”

Virgil flew on, past the room he had spent the day in, and into the big room. He landed on the higher part of the soft structure that Patton had fallen asleep on while they were cuddling yesterday and shifted back into his humanish form. Roman came up and sat on the lower portion of the same structure, looking put out. 

“I wasn’t watching you,” Virgil told him, talking quickly. “I wouldn’t. That’s gross. But I didn’t know what that room even was, and you surprised me and shut the door before I could get out.”

“Okay, okay, I believe you, Batsy,” Roman said, holding up his hands. Virgil shushed. Then Roman frowned contemplatively. “If you didn’t know what the bathroom was… where have you been going?”

“I found some dirt,” Virgil said shyly, feeling that the human was being too forward, but not wanting to risk upsetting him further, “with a leafy plant for cover.”

The human’s face went through several expressions in a matter of seconds. Confusion, then shock, a bit of dismay, and finally, a sort of amused, impressed look. “You used one of Logan’s houseplants as a _bathroom_?” Roman chortled.

Virgil fretted. “Is that bad?”

Roman, still chuckling, shrugged. “He might be a bit upset. But it’s not like we provided a spot, so I don’t think he’ll blame you,” he said. “Hopefully the plant’s okay.”

“Can we… _not_ tell him?” Virgil asked in a small voice. Roman frowned, and Virgil wondered if that had been a bad move.

But then Roman’s frown turned into a smirk and he shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “I can keep a secret.”

Virgil relaxed a bit, finally sitting down. “Where _are_ Patton and Logan?” he asked.

“They’re around here somewhere,” Roman said. “We were waiting for you to wake up. Want to go looking for them?”

Virgil considered it. On the one hand, he still wasn’t very comfortable being around more than one human at once. But on the other hand, he _did_ want to see Patton. The thought surprised him a little. Virgil hadn’t realized how much that particular human had come to mean to him so quickly. He frowned. An emotional tie to a human could be dangerous. Still…

“Yes.”

Roman started to get up, but he paused before he’d completed the motion. “Do… do you want me to carry you?” Virgil blanched at the thought. He’d been fine with riding on Patton’s head and in his hands, but Patton had been nothing but kind to him, while Roman… Virgil was pretty sure Roman had wanted to put a stake through his heart when he’d found Virgil cuddling with Patton yesterday, and even though he was acting nice now, Virgil had no desire to put himself in the human’s hands. “That’s a no, then,” Roman said. Thankfully, he didn’t sound upset. “You can keep up alright flying, right?”

Virgil nodded, and the human stood up. Virgil shifted back to his bat form, taking flight.

“They said they were going to do a puzzle,” Roman told him, obviously thinking that Virgil would know what that meant. “Which means that most likely they’re in Logan’s room. That’s this way.” He turned, heading back the way they’d come only a few minutes before.

Virgil fluttered after him, wondering what humans considered to be a polite distance. Was he too close? Roman looked over his shoulder, grinning at Virgil, and he dared to fly a little closer.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes,” Virgil answered, forgetting for a moment that the human couldn’t hear him.

Roman paused, looking up at him with an odd expression. Virgil reflexively flew a little higher. How high could humans jump? Could Roman grab him if he stayed near the ceiling?

“What?” Roman asked. “Suddenly you don’t want to talk to me?” Virgil knew that he should be worried about upsetting his captor, but for a moment, Roman’s disappointed, hurt expression was terribly familiar. Somehow, it made the human that much less intimidating, to see him looking up at Virgil with those wide, pleading eyes.

Virgil came down, fluttering in front of Roman’s face. The human looked back at him. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Virgil mumbled to himself, and landed clumsily on the human’s shoulder. Roman flinched, suddenly getting very stiff, and his muscles hardened under Virgil. Virgil shifted forms, clinging to the cloth of Roman’s shirt so he wouldn’t fall. “I slept well,” he said. “Thank you.”

Roman slowly nodded, still looking straight ahead. “R-right,” he said. “That’s… that’s good.” 

Was… was the _human_ nervous? _Why?_

Roman swallowed hard, and Virgil shivered. Sitting this close, the sound was loud, and he was reminded yet again how much stronger than him the humans were. Perhaps he should put some distance between them again. Before he could take flight, though, the human spoke again.

“What… um,” Roman stammered. “Why did you land on me?” His voice was decidedly quivering, and Virgil couldn’t fathom why. 

“I wasn’t going to shift on the _floor_ ,” Virgil answered with a huff and a shudder. He might be putting some trust in Roman, but he wasn’t about to make it easy for the human to step on him.

“Shift?” Roman repeated.

Virgil looked up at him. Roman was still facing stiffly forward so that Virgil could only see one side of his face, and he realized that perhaps Roman couldn’t see him and hadn’t realized Virgil had changed forms.

“You can’t hear me when I’m a bat,” he explained.

“Oh. _Oh_ ,” Roman said, sounding suddenly relieved. His shoulder dropped under Virgil, who squealed and clung to it, worried he’d fall. “Sorry.” There was awkward silence for a moment, and then Roman asked slowly, “So… you weren’t planning to bite my neck?”

Virgil blinked. “No,” he said, confused. “Logan said that’s fatal. And if I accidentally kill you, Patton will hate me and Logan will kill me.”

Roman grimaced, but he didn’t deny it, so Virgil knew he was right. There was another silence, almost as awkward as the first, before Roman said, “You can stay there, then, if you want.” He finally turned his head just enough to see Virgil out of the corner of his eye. “Do you think you could keep your balance if I start walking?”

Virgil nodded, and Roman turned back around to proceed down the hallway again. He walked much more slowly than before, clearly doing his best to keep a level gait. Virgil hung on to Roman’s shirt, but he didn’t feel like he was in danger of falling, anymore. 

Finally, Roman stopped in front of one of the doorways. The door was more closed than open, and blocked their view into the room. Roman’s eyes flicked back to Virgil, and he grinned.

“Here we are,” the human said softly, lifting a hand to knock.

“Wait!” Virgil said. Roman’s hand froze an inch from the door. Carefully, Virgil got to his feet, balancing on the living mass below him. Roman seemed to stiffen again, but it was a different sort of stiffness than before, somehow protective. Virgil got the feeling that Roman didn’t want him to fall, and he plucked up the courage to take hold of the back of Roman’s ear to steady himself.

“Ready?” Roman whispered.

Virgil nodded, realized that Roman almost certainly couldn’t see him, and said, “Ready.”

Roman knocked, and then, without waiting for a response, pushed the door open. Patton and Logan _were_ there, and Virgil felt his heart give a leap at the sight of Patton. He still wasn’t quite comfortable with the feeling, not applied to a human, but he didn’t chastise it just now. Instead, he gathered his bravery again, and said, “Hi.”

 


	11. Adoption?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is presented with a choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: there’s a little blood, but I think we’re otherwise good

“Hi!” Patton answered happily, waving.

“Come in,” Logan invited. Roman walked through the door as slowly and carefully as though he was carrying a glass of water filled to the brim, but Virgil still wobbled on his shoulder. Then he leapt off. For a second, Logan thought that he had fallen, and Roman clearly did as well, as he gasped and his hands shot up to catch the little vampire. However, a second later they realized that it must have been intentional.

Before their eyes, Virgil changed forms. His arms became wings, his ears grew larger, and his hair darkened and spread all over his body while his clothes seemed to vanish. In less time than it takes to describe it, Virgil was a bat, flying toward them.

He landed on Patton’s head, and as Logan watched in awe, the transformation happened again in reverse. It was every bit as fascinating as the first time, and Logan was enthralled for every short second. His fingers itched to take notes, but he restrained himself.

Roman, freed of his burden, walked normally over to Logan’s bed and flopped onto it. “Virgil’s awake,” he announced unnecessarily.

“Thank you, Roman, we hadn’t noticed,” Logan said dryly.

Patton giggled. “Do you like it up there, Virgil?” he asked.

“Yes,” Virgil answered, making himself comfortable.

Patton tried to look up at him, but of course since Virgil was sitting on his head, tipping it back accomplished nothing, except for making the little vampire grab onto a lock of Patton’s hair with each hand to keep himself in place. Patton froze. “Sorry.”

“Perhaps a different perch would be more ideal,” Logan suggested. “One which allows Patton to move his head.” He glanced around his room, wondering what the spots favorable for a vampire would be. “You may alight on any surface in the room,” he offered at last. “Or, I doubt that Patton would have any objection to holding you in his hands again. Would you, Patton?”

Patton started to shake his head, but froze again with a small wince. Logan suspected that Virgil had pulled on his hair, though he also thought it likely that it had not been intentional. “I’d like that, actually,” he said softly. Looking up with just his eyes, he asked, “Virgil? May I hold you?”

The little vampire hesitated, looking around the room. Then he said, “Okay.”

Patton reached up, very carefully extracting Virgil from his hair. One particularly curly lock had twisted around the vampire’s leg, and Logan wished Virgil was comfortable enough with him that he could help disentangle them. But before too long, Virgil was sitting in Patton’s hands again, looking a little nervous, but not overly so.

“Have you eaten yet?” Logan asked, though he suspected he knew the answer already. As he’d thought, Virgil shook his head.

“Oh, you must be hungry!” Patton exclaimed. He shifted his hold so that Virgil could access his fingers again. However, the two bandaids from yesterday were still there, and Virgil looked hesitantly at them.

“Based on what happened before, last night’s bite has probably healed,” Logan said, now wishing he’d taken a look at it earlier, and Patton’s older bite as well. “However, it would still be preferable to make the new puncture in a different location.”

“Okay, um…” Patton tried to move his hand around to let Virgil bite a different finger, but separating one from the rest was oddly awkward and difficult. He could have offered the pointer finger from his other hand, but Virgil was sitting in that.

Roman sat up. “Wanna bite me tonight, Diminutive Dracula?” he offered.

Virgil ducked down in Patton’s hand, looking uncertainly at Roman. “You… won’t be upset?” he asked cautiously.

“Would I have offered if I would?” Roman asked. Virgil didn’t answer. “No. No, I wouldn’t have, and I won’t,” Roman said after a moment.

“Then… okay.”

Roman got off of Logan’s bed and came over. “Here you go,” he said, curling most of his hand into a loose fist but extending his pointer finger toward Virgil.

Virgil still looked hesitant, but he put his hands on Roman’s finger, one on each knuckle. Roman gave him an encouraging smile, and the vampire bent his head to bite.

Logan wished that he could see more clearly how exactly Virgil fed. Perhaps he should offer his own finger the next time, so that he could observe. From this distance and angle, he could not tell if Virgil was sucking the blood out, or allowing Roman’s finger to bleed and lapping it up.

If there was a next time, Logan decided, he would certainly volunteer. For now, he opened the bottom drawer in his desk to fetch the first aid kit he kept there. _If Virgil stays,_ he noted to himself as he picked out the things he needed, _I’ll need to get a lot more small bandaids_.

When Virgil had drunk his fill — and Logan realized suddenly that he ought to _time_ the event — he released Roman’s finger, and Roman drew it back. Instantly, another bead of blood appeared, and Roman lifted his hand on autopilot toward his own mouth. Logan grabbed his wrist.

“Roman, that’s unsanitary,” he scolded, using the alcohol wipe in his other hand to clean the wound instead. “Here, hold this.”

Roman pouted, but he obediently held the wipe in place as Logan opened the bandaid. Then he pulled it away, and Logan applied the bandaid. This box of bandaids were a beige instead of the brightly colored ones Logan kept in most of the common rooms, and were fairly close to Logan’s skin tone, so as to be nearly invisible when applied to himself. Against Roman’s skin, it was less effective. It would have been even less so on Patton’s or Virgil’s, though for opposite reasons.

“There.” Logan took the bloodied wipe from Roman, and threw it in the trash along with the other bits of garbage. “Patton, you can open your eyes now.”

Patton, whose eyes had been tightly squeezed closed, opened them, looking down at the little vampire with an extremely fond expression. “Feel better?”

Virgil nodded quietly.

“Thanks, Roman,” Patton added, looking over to him. Roman perked up happily.

“No problemo, Padre,” he said.

“Virgil,” Logan said, and the vampire’s gaze whipped over to him. “Apologies for startling you. I was wondering, would it be beneficial to space out your food? I mean, would two smaller meals, separated by some hours, be better than one large one early in the evening?” When Virgil only gave him a blank look in response, Logan explained, “For humans, we tend to split our food intake into three meals a day, but it is often healthier to split it even further, into many small meals. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about vampires, nor is it possible for me to look it up, but it may be that it is the same for you.”

Virgil looked up at Patton, and then back to Logan. “I don’t know,” he said softly. “I always just drank what I could when I could get it.”

“That is fair. I thought that might be the case,” Logan said. He was, of course, disappointed that he didn’t get an answer, but he understood. “Perhaps we can discover that in the future.”

“Speaking of the future,” Roman said, “we wanted to talk to you about what happens next.”

Virgil flinched at his words, immediately hunkering lower in Patton’s hands.

“No, no, you’re not in trouble!” Patton said quickly. “And you’re the one who gets to pick!”

Virgil hesitantly peeked out at the others again. “What are my choices?” he asked.

“Simply put, to stay or to go,” Logan answered. “We think it would be more beneficial to your health if you were to stay with us, as we can provide you with shelter, companionship, and a steady source of human blood, but of course that comes with being around humans all the time. Alternatively, we could bring you back to where we found you, or to any other location of your choosing, and you could leave, with no obligation to come into contact with us again.”

Virgil blinked at him in surprise.

“Obviously, if you stay, we will need to make some changes to the current setup,” Logan continued. “Your sleeping arrangements, for one. I believe Roman and Patton have already been making plans to build you a more cave-like structure.”

“I know some people with the skills,” Roman confirmed, winking.

“And of course we’d have to make sure you can get in and out of the house by yourself!” Patton added. “It can’t have been fun being all cooped up all night.”

Virgil looked stunned. “You… you would let me come and go… as I wish?”

“Certainly,” Logan said, at the same time as Patton and Roman assured Virgil of the same, though with all three of them agreeing at the same time, it was impossible to tell what the others said. “Whatever you choose, you will not be our prisoner any longer,” Logan continued. “Indeed, it was cruel for us to keep you captive as long as we did. I apologize for allowing my curiosity to override my decency.”

Virgil looked around at the three of them. “I want…” he said slowly. “I want… I want to go outside.”

“Okay,” Patton said. “Of course, whatever you want.” He at once exited Logan’s room. Roman and Logan trailed after him through the living room to the back door. Patton opened it, stepping out onto the porch.

Though the sun had set, the night air was still comfortably warm. Virgil visibly relaxed as Patton carried him out. Roman hopped up and sat on the railing running around the edges of the porch, and Logan leaned against the outer wall of the house next to the door.

“Do you want to stretch your wings?” Patton asked softly.

Virgil looked up at him, then nodded. “Yes, please.”

Patton flattened out his hands, and Virgil transformed again. Then he dropped off the side of Patton’s palm, spread his wings, and did a quick lap around the perimeter of the porch. The little vampire flew around Patton twice, causing him to giggle, and then shot straight up until he vanished into the black night.

“Oh, Logan,” Roman said after several moments, bringing Logan’s attention back to earth. “Virgil says he _can_ talk while he’s a bat, but _we_ can’t hear him.”

“Hm,” Logan replied. “Most likely his voice is ultrasonic while he’s in that form, much like echolocation. I wonder… do you think it sounds like regular bat communication, or like higher pitched English?”

Roman shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea.”

Patton was still peering up into the sky, but it didn’t look like he could see Virgil either.

“It probably feels good to have enough room to fly around again,” Logan remarked. “I would not be too surprised if it took him several minutes to return.”

Patton nodded slowly. With a sigh, he leaned against the railing opposite Roman. “He’ll come back when he’s ready,” he said, trying to convince himself as much as the others. “I don’t think he’d leave without saying goodbye.”

“Nope,” Roman agreed.

For a few minutes, the three housemates relaxed in companionable silence, looking out into the night. Then Roman said, “Oh, hey, there he is,” and pointed.

Sure enough, a black bat flitted into the circle of light cast by the porch light. Patton perked up. “Hey, Virge,” he said happily.

The bat hung back near the edge of the light, flying back and forth.

“It’s alright, Virgil,” Logan said reassuringly. “We’re not going to grab at you.”

Slowly, the bat came nearer. Logan expected him to land near Patton, if not on him, and was surprised when instead the vampire shifted forms as he approached the far railing, across from Logan. He landed gracefully, with a practiced air, and didn’t stumble.

Logan did a double take. When they had last seen Virgil in his humanoid form, he had been dressed in purple. The vampire before them, while wearing the same style of outfit, had a different color scheme, red with a splash of yellow, and he carried himself differently. Patton gasped, and Logan didn’t need to look at his friends to know they’d made the same realization as he had.

This wasn’t Virgil.

The new vampire eyed all three humans warily, and demanded, “What have you done with my brother?”


	12. Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil’s brother is here! And he’s not happy with the humans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content/Trigger Warnings: allusion to minor character death, separation anxiety 

Life was good.

During the light hours, when the sun beat mercilessly down upon all that was outside the dark safety of the cave, the colony slept as one, nestled together in a large, protective cluster. During the dark hours, when the sun was safely below the horizon, they flew out in search of food. Hunts did not typically take all night, however, and there were many hours left of the night during which they played complex games and told and retold stories.

Life was simple, and it was very good.

Until the slayer came. Less than a week ago, their colony had been dozens strong. One human, in one afternoon, put an end to all of that. Now there was only Thomas.

Or at least, that’s what he had thought.

Thomas hadn’t dared to go back to the cave. The slayer had doubtless left poison all over it, and Thomas knew that he couldn’t face his home with the knowledge that the rest of his colony was gone forever. He had spent the last several days hiding under whatever cover he could find and trying to sleep, and his nights flying around in search of unsuspecting creatures on which he could feed. Somehow, hunting was harder now, even though they’d never hunted in groups before and he ought to be able to do it alone. Thomas blamed it on the lack of proper sleep.

Tonight, Thomas had dared come near the human dwellings. He’d found a trio of humans just standing outside of their house, and he had thought he could approach them without being seen, but he must’ve been worse off than he’d thought, because as Thomas flew close, one of the humans pointed him out to the other two.

Thomas should have turned right around and flown away. But one of the other two humans said something that surprised him:

“Hey, Virge.”

 _what?_ Had Thomas heard that right? “What did you say?”

The third human spoke up. “It’s alright, Virgil. We’re not going to grab at you.”

It couldn’t be. But it was. Somehow, some way, these humans had mistaken Thomas for Virgil. Which meant that _they knew Virgil_. Thomas felt his heart lift. Virgil was alive!?

But. Virgil would never associate with humans. They were far too dangerous, and Virgil was properly cautious. No, they had to have captured him. And now they wanted to capture Thomas too.

Thomas flew closer, suddenly filled with anger. He transformed in midair, landing on his feet atop the portion of railing furthest from all three of the humans, and fixed them with a glare.

“What,” Thomas demanded in a low voice, “have you done with my brother?”

All three humans stared at him. Thomas shifted his gaze uneasily from one to another, keeping ready to leap backwards off the railing and transform again if any of them moved toward him. But they all seemed frozen. 

“What have you done with Virgil?” Thomas snapped irritably. One of the humans, the one who had first greeted him, gasped softly.

“Virgil is your brother?”

Thomas nodded stiffly. “Where is he?”

Before any of the humans could answer, Thomas heard a voice he had thought he’d never hear again cry out his name. “Thomas!”

He turned, and _there was Virgil_ , flying toward him. Virgil transformed as he landed with a stumble on the railing mere inches away from Thomas, and the next thing Thomas knew, he’d been grabbed in a tight hug. Thomas wrapped his arms around his brother and squeezed him back. “You’re alive,” he whispered into Virgil’s shoulder.

“You’re _alive_ ,” Virgil echoed blissfully.

Thomas never wanted to let go. But a movement glimpsed out of the corner of his eye reminded him of the danger standing right next to them. “Virgil!” he hissed. “The humans!”

Virgil looked up, turning his tear-streaked face toward the humans. To Thomas’s surprise, he lifted a hand toward them and called out, “Come meet my brother!”

“Virgil!” Thomas cried, horrified.

“It’s okay,” Virgil assured him. “These ones are different. Really.”

Thomas had serious doubts about that, but then he looked into Virgil’s face and saw that his brother, who was always so cautious, felt at ease. Thomas may not be able or willing to trust humans, but he trusted Virgil.

“What are their names?”

Virgil grinned. Pointing to the humans in turn, he said, “That one’s Patton. He’s my favorite, he’s very nice. That one’s Logan. He’s very curious and it’s a bit much, but also he cut his own finger to save me from starving. That one’s Roman. We…” Virgil made a face. “He’s a little scarier, but I think he’s just trying to protect his colony.”

“Hi,” said Patton with a little wave, grinning.

Logan nodded. “Salutations.”

Roman’s face was a bit red. “Sorry for being scary,” he muttered.

Suddenly, Virgil grabbed Thomas’s shoulders to hold him at arm’s length and look him over. “Have you been eating? I mean, obviously you have, you wouldn’t have lasted this long without starving to death if you weren’t finding _something_ to eat, but how’s the hunting been?”

“I’m fine,” Thomas said, laughing in relief. “You?”

Virgil nodded. He looked back at the humans again. “They…” Virgil paused, then continued in an amazed voice. “They let me _bite_ them, Thomas!”

Thomas stared at the humans in surprise. Humans _never_ let themselves be bit. Hadn’t the slayer’s main objection to their existence been their diet?

“It’s true,” Roman said, holding out his hand to display a raised, discolored spot on his finger. “Virgil bit me earlier tonight.”

“And he bit me last night,” Patton added, showing Thomas that his finger had two spots, one green and the other yellow.

“Those are called ‘ban dayds’,” Virgil murmured in Thomas’s ear. “It’s sticky and it makes the bite heal faster.”

“Why does Patton have two?”

“The green one is on a bite, and Logan gave me the yellow one to explain what they were.”

Thomas nodded slowly, still trying to parse all of this. Not only was Virgil alive, but he had somehow found nonthreatening humans who didn’t mind being bitten. Thomas wouldn’t be surprised to discover that the sleep deprivation had finally gotten to him and he was hallucinating the whole thing. He tugged on Virgil’s sleeve and pleaded, “Fly with me?”

“Of course.” Virgil looked to the humans again.

Patton smiled at him. “Go on,” he said gently. “Take as long as you need.”

Virgil nodded, looking relieved. “I’ll be back.” He let go of Thomas for the first time since they’d been reunited so that they could both shift back. Then both brothers took off, spiraling around each other. For several minutes, they didn’t even say anything, just reveling in the experience of getting to fly together when neither had thought they’d ever get to do so again.

Virgil spoke first, cautiously hopeful. “Is there anyone else?”

“I thought I was the only one,” Thomas answered, trying to figure out if the emotion he was feeling was joy or despair. “Someone else also escaping seems as likely as you surviving.”

Virgil was silent again. Then he brushed his wing against Thomas’s. “At least we have each other.”

“We have each other,” Thomas agreed. They flew on. A few seconds later, Thomas said, not sure how to word the question, “So… those humans…”

Virgil made an affirmative sound.

“They’re not… coercing you?” Thomas asked worriedly.

“They’re really not,” Virgil assured him. “I mean, at first… at first it wasn’t good. They… they did capture me. I thought I was going to die.” They both shuddered, remembering the slayer. “But… they didn’t kill me,” Virgil continued in an awed voice. “Not only did they not kill me, but they fed me, and hid me from the sun, and… Patton comforted me. Even though I’d bit him, he gave me a hug and let me cry on him. And then let me bite him again!”

Thomas shook his head in wonder. “It sounds too good to be true.”

“I know, it really does.” They were quiet again, simply flying close enough together that their wingtips brushed against each other at every flap. Then Virgil asked, “Where have you been sleeping?”

“Wherever I could find,” Thomas answered, suddenly aware again of how bone-weary he was. He’d been distracted from it by his anger, and then joy, at finding Virgil again. “Not very well.” He eyed his brother. Virgil was flying strong, clearly well-fed and rested. “You’ve been sleeping with the humans? How is it?”

“Lonely. Humans keep such weird hours. But, they did make me a shelter to sleep in, safe from the sun.” Virgil was quiet for a few moments. “I don’t know if they’d invite you into the house, and I know you probably don’t want to sleep in a human house anyway. I’m sure we can find enough shelter for two.”

Thomas hadn’t realized how worried he’d been about Virgil leaving him again at dawn. Now that he knew he wouldn’t, Thomas felt tension drain out of him.

The two bats spiraled around each other once more, and then Virgil said, “I should tell them I’m staying out with you. Otherwise I think Patton at least would wait all night, and not get any sleep at all.”

“You care about them,” Thomas said softly.

Virgil was quiet for a moment, then made a sound of agreement. “It kinda snuck up on me… but, yeah.”


	13. 🦇🦇

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting ready for the night.

Virgil hadn’t specified _when_ he’d be back. After they had waited for a while, Patton caught Logan trying to hide a yawn.

“What time do you need to be up in the morning?” he asked.

Logan glanced to Patton to confirm that the question was directed at him, then answered, “Five.”

Roman checked his watch. After a moment of mental math, he said, “Right, bedtime for you.” Logan didn’t move. “Come on, Starshine,” Roman added with a sigh, holding out his hand for Logan’s. “You need to be properly rested so you can do a good job at work tomorrow.”

Logan pouted. He didn’t _want_ to miss Virgil’s return, especially if the other vampire (Logan hadn’t caught his name, had it been said?) was with him.

“Logan,” Patton said, a bit of scold in his voice.

“If Virgil only comes back to say goodbye, will you wake me up?”

“Absolutely,” Patton promised.

Logan let Roman take his hand, then, and lead him into the house, leaving Patton on the balcony alone.

A few minutes later, while Roman was making sure that Logan actually went to bed, the vampires returned. They were flying close together, and Patton had to admit that he couldn’t tell which was which. However, when they came closer, he had a guess based on their behavior: one hung back just out of reach, while the other circled Patton close enough to touch. As if to confirm his guess, the closer vampire flew up right in front of Patton’s face, shifted into his humanoid form — yes, it was Virgil — and said, “Hi Patton!” before he started to fall again. Patton lifted his hands to catch him, but that wasn’t necessary. Virgil shifted back, looping around Patton again before landing on his left shoulder.

“Did you have a good flight?” Patton asked, looking at Virgil’s brother, since he couldn’t exactly see Virgil.

“Yeah!” Virgil said happily. “I’m gonna stay out with Thomas tonight, but we’ll come back tomorrow evening, okay?”

Patton nodded. “Will you be okay staying outside all day?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I’m sure we can find shelter,” Virgil assured him, patting Patton’s neck.

“Okay, but if you can’t, or you change your minds, you can come inside,” Patton said, then had to pause to think about that offer. The vampires probably couldn’t open a door by themselves, even with two of them. “Should I leave the back door open?”

“No, other things might get in your house,” Virgil said thoughtfully. “Can you open a window? Maybe the little one in the, uh… bath room?”

Patton perked up. “Sure!” He turned to go inside, but hesitated. “Um. Thomas, you can come in too if you want. Or you can wait out here. We’ll be right back.”

There was silence, (which was actually Thomas saying “I’m not letting my brother go off alone with a human,” but Patton couldn’t hear him,) and then Virgil said, “I promise they’re safe. _Especially_ Patton.”

There was another pause. (Thomas hesitated. “Are you sure?”)

“Very sure.”

(”Well… okay.”)

“Hey, Patton?” Virgil asked.

“Yeah?”

“Will you give Thomas a ride too?”

Patton smiled. “Of course, if he wants one.”

The second vampire fluttered closer, seeming hesitant. Patton stood still, waiting. After a few moments more, Thomas landed on Patton’s other shoulder.

“Ready?” Patton asked.

(”Um. Y-yes. Ready.”)

“Thommy, humans can’t hear that,” Virgil said. “We’re ready, Patton!”

Patton turned, walking extra carefully into the house. He left the door open behind him so that if Thomas panicked, he’d be able to leave again. Pausing at the door to the coat closet, he said, “We set this room up for Virgil. You may also enter it as many times as you would like, Thomas.” Then he continued down the hallway, past all their rooms. They could hear Logan and Roman talking softly in Logan’s room, but didn’t stop to look in on them. Instead, Patton entered the bathroom at the end of the hall, looking up at the window. It was above the tub, and he didn’t think he could reach it without standing on something. Luckily, Patton was a good climber, and the soap ledge was built into the side of the tub wall, so that it was very sturdy.

“You’ll probably want to get off for this,” Patton warned. Both bats fluttered off his shoulders. Then, while Thomas flew around overhead, Virgil landed on the bathroom counter, staring into the mirror.

“Patton!”

“What?”

Virgil pointed. “Another human, in that other room! And he looks so much like you!”

Patton blinked, surprised. But no, it made sense that Virgil would misinterpret it like that. “Actually, that’s my reflection,” he said gently.

“Your what?”

“Reflection,” Patton repeated. “That’s a mirror, not a window. Here, look.” He stepped forward, lifting his hand. “Watch how it moves exactly like I do.”

Virgil looked back and forth between Patton and the mirror, looking confused. “Why do you have a… ruh flek shun?”

Patton thought about it for a moment. “Light waves bouncing and stuff,” he said. “Logan could explain the science better, probably. But actually, everything in this room is reflected in the mirror, except you two. That’s… the norm, actually. I don’t know why vampires don’t have reflections.”

“Oh.” Virgil stared into the mirror for several more moments.

“Have you ever looked at a lake or a puddle and seen the moon, or maybe trees, in it?” Patton asked.

“Yes,” Virgil said, still looking into the mirror. “Trees grow upside down in lakes.”

“Well, that’s because they’re reflections of the real trees outside the lake.” Patton put out his hand, touching his fingertips to the mirror. “See how my reflection is directly opposite of me? When trees are reflected in lakes, the same sort of thing happens, and they’re upside down.”

“ _Your_ … reflect shun isn’t upside down,” Virgil said with a thoughtful frown in his voice.

“No,” Patton agreed. “Because the mirror is on the wall. If it was on the floor, I’d be standing on it, and it _would_ be upside down.”

“Oh.” Virgil turned around, looking up at Patton again. Patton wondered if his curiosity had been satisfied or he’d simply been overwhelmed trying to understand something very strange and unfamiliar. Patton gave him a gentle smile.

“Let’s just get that window open, huh?”

Virgil nodded. Patton stepped into the tub. Carefully, bracing himself against the wall, he put his foot on the ledge. It was only wide enough for one foot, and though Patton was sure it would hold his weight, he didn’t feel very sturdy. Still, with the help of his hands on the windowsill, he hauled himself up to stand.

“Okay. Now just gotta open this,” Patton said with a grin. He pushed on the handle in the middle of the window frame. Nothing happened. Patton frowned, pushing harder. It was stuck. “Okay,” Patton said again. He adjusted his position slightly, trying again. It took some effort, and definitely would have been easier if he could adjust his footing for better leverage, but at last Patton got the window to slide open. “Ta-da!” he said triumphantly.

A bat flew up and landed on the sill by Patton’s hand. He shifted into his other form and put his hand against the screen, looking out.

“Yeah, lemme take that out too,” Patton said. Careful not to bump Virgil, he gripped the little screen pull-tabs, unfastening it. He tossed the screen down, aiming for the side of the bathtub, but it bounced and landed on the floor instead. Comparing the relative sizes of the vampire and the window, Patton asked, “Can you still get in if I close it a bit? To prevent other things being as likely to fly in.”

Virgil nodded, so Patton closed the window about halfway.

“That good?”

Another nod.

Patton smiled. “Okay. So. You two are welcome to come in anytime. As many times as you want.” Holding on to the windowsill again, Patton lowered himself to hang by his arms, then dropped into the bathtub. “Need anything else?”

Virgil looked down at him from the windowsill, and after a moment, Thomas landed beside him.

“No,” Virgil said. “Thank you.”

Patton grinned. “You’re welcome! Have a nice night.”

Virgil smiled back. “We will. Sleep well.”

“Thanks!”

The two vampires turned then, going out through the window. Patton stood there for a few moments longer, then, still smiling, got out of the bathtub and went to tell the others what had happened.


End file.
